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Follow the Sun and help to feed hungry children

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Port Elizabeth’s The Boardwalk has enthusiastically hopped on board to support of Sun International’s and Stop Hunger Now South Africa’s international meal packaging challenge, Follow the Sun, taking place in July to commemorate International Mandela Day. The Boardwalk urges local businesses and caring citizens to Follow the Sun and spend 67 minutes of their time to help pack meals for children in need.

The Follow the Sun challenge is buoyed by the Mandela Day event in 2015 that saw caring citizens across the country pack some 1.2-million meals on one day. This was a world first and now the vision is to create the first and largest international Mandela Day Event ever undertaken in the world. The goal is to pack 10-million meals worldwide, with 2-million meals to be packed in South Africa at five Sun International sites nationally over a period of seven days between 13 and 20 July.

The other participating Sun International properties include Sun City in the North West Province, GrandWest in Cape Town, Carnival City in Johannesburg and Sibaya in KwaZulu Natal. The seven day operation is intended to commemorate Mandela Day and South Africa’s most loved citizen’s particular focus on our country’s children and their wellbeing.

The Boardwalk will play host to the Follow the Sun meal packing challenge on 16 July 2016. Sun International employees, representatives from caring businesses, government representatives and other likeminded stakeholders, including Miss Universe, Pauline Vega, who is the global ambassador for Stop Hunger Now, will come together and roll up their sleeves to pack food parcels for the needy.

Volunteers can lend a helping hand by assisting with packing dried goods such as soya, rice, 23 vitamins and minerals and a soup mix to be delivered to hungry children around South Africa. Each volunteer will spend 67 minutes commemorating Nelson Mandela by packing products into meal boxes, which will ultimately feed a child for an entire year. The significance of 67 minutes refers to every year of Nelson Mandela’s life spent in public service, between 1942 and 2009 when the Nelson Mandela Foundation first introduced Mandela Day.

“Stop Hunger Now SA does tremendous work to alleviate the plight of South Africa’s hungry. Alleviating hunger is something that is close to Sun International’s heart and we feel privileged be part of this meaningful worldwide campaign to eradicate hunger. We urge local businesses and our community to Follow the Sun and help make a difference in the lives of those that are weakened by hunger,” says The Boardwalk’s General Manager Brett Hoppé.

With food inflation reaching nearly 10% by the end of the first quarter of 2016, a full shopping basket is a luxury for many people.  According to Statistics South Africa, as many as 16% of South Africans have inadequate access to food while for 6% access was severely inadequate. Distressingly, around 3-million children in South Africa go to school hungry.

Stop Hunger Now Southern Africa CEO Saira Khan says, “It is paramount that organisations like ourselves continue to do more so that we can eradicate hunger in this country. We are grateful to our strategic partners Sun International, Connecting Africa, the Mandela Centre of Memory, as well as the many other corporates who are honouring Mandela’s legacy this Mandela Day by packaging meals for vulnerable children.

“This global event is the first of its kind, in which we use Sun International’s facilities to get Corporate South Africa to volunteer their time to package nutritious meals for children. We challenge Corporate South Africa to get on board and make this a reality with the rest of the world! #FollowTheSun”

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Alan Straton

Chief Cook, Bottle Washer and Broom Mechanic at MyPE
Passionate about Port Elizabeth and definitely NOT packing for Perth. Alan's ethos is epitomised in the words of Nelson Mandela; "I have fought against white domination and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the idea of a democratic and free society. If need be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die." See more articles by Alan.