Help serve 30 000 meals in Africa during COVID 19

Hardship is an everyday truth. Poverty for many is a way of life. It’s this reality that inspired us to open Love Story eight years ago. Nothing could have prepared us for the pain we have seen in our community over the years. Stories of families losing their homes in fires, mothers birthing babies into extreme impoverishment, children living in drain pipes, addicts dying alone on the street and the list goes on. It’s these human circumstances that drive us, that cause us to sit up, listen and find solution.

The beauty of this is that the solution almost always is the community itself. It’s through the generous donations of finance, resources and volunteerism that we’ve been able to feed hundreds of thousands of people, revamp hospital wards, build early learning centers, clothe hundreds of newborns and distribute blankets, clothing and groceries to thousands of people in need. We have learned that our impact is only as significant as the generosity of our community and because of this we can proudly say that our impact is immense!

We experienced an unprecedented level of support during the difficult months of lockdown. Our daily mandate at Love Story usually takes on the appearance of large crowds through our feeding schemes. When lockdown restrictions were instated we could no longer gather people which meant hundreds of homeless people going without food each day. Government restrictions limited our operation for the first few weeks and we sat dormant waiting on breakthrough. With the economy under pressure we expected financial donations to come to a stand still.

A few days into lockdown one of our main corporate sponsors informed us of an incredible food product that could be purchased affordable in bulk and that they would pay for the first lot if we could distribute it. After the first distribution of a few hundred kilograms, and faced with the desperation of the recipients, we realized that we could not stop there!

We immediately launched an online campaign encouraging our supporters to give financially so that we could continue to feed the hungry. Within the first ten days of our “Lockdown Campaign” we raised enough to serve 70 000 meals - this was the beginning of April. By the end of May we had served 350 000 meals and by September we had reached 1 million meals. Our soup kitchens grew from 15 sites to over 70 as community leaders from all over starting setting up little feeding schemes to meet the needs in their neighborhoods. We saw our community give everything they could even though it was a time of loss and shortfall for all.

Thanks to the overwhelming support from individuals from all around the world, churches and corporates, we have now served 1,5 million meals during lockdown.

During the world’s darkest hour, we witnessed a beautiful shift in humanity, an overwhelming kindheartedness, a literal example of light piercing the darkness and enveloping it.

Links:

• 1,5 million meals video

With South Africa's national lockdown still in place, there are so many people in desperate need of daily assistance. Many have lost their jobs or are unable to work due to being sick and quarantined. For this reason, we have continued our Lockdown feeding scheme for 87 days and through this GlobalGiving project have been able to serve an additional 4500 meals to those in need.

We are very grateful that we have been able to extend our reach from serving only 15 soup kitchens before Lockdown to now serving 70 soup kitchens in underprivileged areas all over our city. 

Some of our team members have been able to go out and meet with people in these areas and hear some their stories. It has been both heartbreaking and humbling and we are so much more aware of how great the need is and how what we're doing is impacting many lives. 

We would like to thank those who have supported this project. We would not be able to do this without you. 

Blessings, 

The Love Story team

Links:

• Love Story website
• Love Story Facebook page