PSFA Expands Breakfast Programme
February 1st marked the reopening of our school breakfast programme for the 2011 school year. In 2010, we identified 50,000 learners in 145 schools, who were in dire need of the added nutrition, offered by PSFA’s breakfast programme twice a week. Today, we are providing mealie meal to 6,000 learners in 178 schools across the Province.
A school breakfast programme is essential in some areas because children arrive at school starving. The breakfast is served on Mondays and Fridays to learners who have been identified as the most affected by poverty, in order to prepare them for the possibility of a weekend without food at home, and to fill their empty tummies immediately upon entering the school grounds on Monday morning. The cereal is served between 07h00 and 08h00, while the main meal is served later in the morning, usually by 10h00.
The expansion of the programme was made possible after the National Lottery Distribution Trust Fund sponsored the original 50,000 learners. Schools from the worst affected areas are invited to join the programme, and Amelia Koeries, our Operations Administrator, reports that she is receiving, on average, 15 requests per week since the start of the school year.
In addition to allocating R2million to the breakfast programme, PSFA’s Management Committee decided to increase the monthly honoraria paid to the volunteers who prepare the mealie meal. This enables previously unemployed people to receive an income and, in so doing, improve their own household food security situation.
