Donated meals help to feed young minds

My Father’s House, a community food kitchen in Simon’s Town, is supporting two local schools.

Simon’s Town School provides pupils from Grade R to Grade 12 with one meal three times a week on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

Bread is provided by My Father’s House and it is up to the school to secure donations for toppings.

My Father’s House director Deena Pillay said the organisation supplied the Simon’s Town School with 10 loaves of bread three times a week.

Simon’s Town School principal Lucrecia Harrison said several businesses and individuals had donated sandwich fillings during the first term but the school needed ongoing donations.

“We need toppings like peanut butter, jam, cheese, eggs, mayonnaise, tuna, and pilchards.”

The school also needs volunteers to help make the sandwiches each week.

My Father’s House also supplies meals twice a week for pupils attending after-school classes at Ocean View High School.

An after-school programme was launched at Ocean View High School last month with the aim of improving the school’s matric pass rate (After-school classes bring hope for better pass rate,” Echo, April 27).

Mr Pillay said pupils at Ocean View High were supplied with a ready-made meal and a garlic roll or five loaves of bread with peanut butter and jam twice a week.

Frances Grendon, of Noordhoek, who started the after-school programme said Mr Pillay had been a godsend.

She said he had agreed without hesitation to feed the pupils twice a week, but in the last week, the organisation had donated three times a week.

“My Father’s House is very organised, and they have not once skipped a donation. They are doing a lot of good work in the communities for the underprivileged and must be given recognition. I can’t thank them enough,” she said.

Ocean View High School acting principal Andrew Sanders said the pupils looked forward to the “lovely meals” provided by My Father’s House and the food helped to get them through an extended school day.

Ms Harrison said the nutrition programme supported by Mr Father’s House helped to improve attendance and concentration in class.

“Children need nutrition to grow, learn, and to have productive days. We encourage all stakeholders to support our much-needed nutrition programme and promote learning capacity,” she said.