Sun International rises against hunger at Time Square

There was no shortage of cheer at Time Square in Menlyn on International Mandela Day (18 July 2017) as over 900 spirited volunteers united to Rise Against Hunger to commemorate the late Nelson Mandela’s birthday. Amongst the volunteers were the Minister of Women in the Presidency Susan Shabangu; the Swiss Ambassador Her Excellency Helene Budliger Artieda; the European Union Ambassador His Excellency Dr. Cormaro; the United States Charge d’Affaires Ms. Jessye Lapenn, and representatives from the embassies of Chile; Columbia and the United Kingdom. Miss South Africa Demi-Leigh Peters-Nel and other local celebrities including Zweli Dube and Sophie Ndaba were also in the packing lines along with members of the media.

The worked alongside representatives from Sun International’s Time Square, Carnival City and Head Office including the Group’s Chief Executive Officer Anthony Leeming; the Group Chief Strategy and Operating Officer Rob Collins; Chief Group Operating Officer Thabo Mosololi; Group Socio Economic Development Manager Nancy Ncube, and Time Square’s General Manager Brett Hoppé in packaging lines for 67 minutes each to pack meal parcels for needy children. The target was to pack 106 000 meals but this was exceeded. By the end of the day, 107 136 meals and a total of 496 boxes were packed at Time Square. 

The initiative, in collaboration with Rise Against Hunger (previously Stop Hunger Now), was part of a nationwide drive, with similar food packing events taking place simultaneously at three Sun International properties, The Boardwalk in Port Elizabeth, GrandWest in Cape Town and the Wild Coast Sun in Port Edward, as well as four other venues across the country. The national target was to pack 3-million meals on the day.

Each meal box contains 36 meal bags which in turn contain six meals each. The contents are carefully planned to provide for the nutritional needs of children, including rice, soya, soup mix and a vitamin sachet containing 23 essential vitamins and minerals.

“Rise Against Hunger does tremendous work to alleviate the plight of South Africa’s hungry. Alleviating hunger is something that is close to our heart and we feel privileged to be part of this meaningful Mandela Day initiative which has tremendous and far reaching impact across needy communities. We thank all of our volunteers who worked tirelessly to package meals. You have made a difference,” said Hoppé.

The 2017 food packing challenge was buoyed by the International Mandela Day event in 2015 when some 1.2-million meals were packed on one day. This was followed by the Follow the Sun meal packing drive in 2016 when just over 3-million meals were packed.