On Tuesday 01 August we visited another of our amazing beneficiary organisations, Women of Westlake, located in Westlake, Cape Town. Upon arrival, we were greeted by the flavoursome and aromatic smell of wholesome food being prepared for the most vulnerable in the community of Westlake.

Serving hearty meals in an orderly fashion It wasn’t long after we arrived at 2 pm, that the community members start forming a line at the gate to receive their portion of a hearty lunch

Anthea Thebus is the chairperson and the founder of the non-profit organisation Women of Westlake. She formed “Women” in 2007 but registered in 2016, because “most of the families living in Westlake Village depend on government social grants and are unemployed.  She shared with us that they discussed and agreed with community members to serve lunch at around 2 pm since this is the time the little ones are back from primary school and are also able to be fed. On average, Anthea and her team serve lunch to 180+ people every day. They have developed a good way of working, serving the frail and elderly together with the children and then the rest. What impressed us is the way everyone is orderly and understands how “the system” works.

These women play a significant role in this community and the amount of work they put in to feed the community is commendable.

Mitigating hunger through partnerships

 “Women of Westlake relies solely on the public for donations and without the food donations we receive monthly from FoodForward SA none of this would even be attainable with the current state of our economy,” Anthea tells us. She also mentions an interesting fact: every last week of the month the number of people coming to fetch food goes down because many households would have received their SASSA grant, however, the numbers pick up again after two weeks, once the grant has been spent. This is when people go hungry again.

Anthea’s Women’s Month message:

“The partnership between FoodForward SA and us the Women of Westlake is extremely vital in the fight to alleviate hunger in South Africa.”

“We give because we care”