With the outbreak of the global covid-19 pandemic and the introduction of a national lock-down, The Surfer Kids revamped it feeding scheme to deliver food to the all the families of the children participating in its Core Surf Program.
The Surfer Kids Core Surf Program currently caters for 35 children from JCC Camp, one of Mossel Bays poorest communities.
Under normal circumstance the Core Surf Program fed all the kids on a daily basis, while the revamped lock-down feeding supported the kids’ entire families, a total of 140 – 150 people from 24 families.
Throughout May and June, for the first two rounds of distribution, The Surfer Kids worked in conjunction with The Lunchbox Fund, a nationwide food relief organization that source food parcels and distribute to organizations that run feeding schemes.
As of July 2020 (for third and subsequent rounds of distribution) The Surfer Kids sourced food parcels locally and shifted focus from feeding entire families to specifically feeding children in the families.
The local distribution of the food parcels were handled by The Surfer Kids’ Coaches, Sinesipho and Luthando.
One food parcel (first two rounds of distribution) came at a cost of R400 and contained enough essential groceries to feed a family of four for 4 weeks, provided that they cook one meal a day.
That came to a R100 per month to feed one person, one meal per day day, or approximately R3.50 per person per meal.
As of July 2020 (for third and subsequent rounds of distribution) a food parcel costs approximately R100 per box and are distributed on a monthly basis.
The Surfer Kids Coaches track the distribution and usage of the food parcels to confirm the numbers and ensure fair distribution.
Each R400 box contained among other essentials, maize meal, samp, sugar beans, rice, porridge, soy mince, powdered soup, sugar, cooking oil, tea, powdered milk and multi purpose soap.
While the R100 box contains Maize Meal, Soy Mince, Powder Milk and Porridge.
Before the lock-down started The Surfer Kids fed the kids nutritious meals like noodles, bread, mealie pap, gravy soup and jungle oats on a daily basis. Supporters like CrossFit Mossel Bay helped us by donating food on a regular basis.
South Africa’s lock-down started on the 26th of March and as of writing various lock-down regulations are still in place.
Our Core Surf Program ceased all operations involving the children on the 20th of March, which was also the last day we could feed the kids.
Under normal circumstances (before the lock-down started) we fed the children on monthly basis 30 loaves of bread, 200 packets of noodles (1 serving per pack), 12 packets (2.5kg) of oats 21 (2.5kg) packets of mealie-pap.
On 19th May The Surfer Kids’ revamped feeding scheme started distributing its first round of food parcels to 24 families. As of writing 52 food parcels have been delivered.
The Surfer Kids launched a revamped feeding scheme because the meals we fed the kids on a daily basis, under normal circumstances, were sometimes their only nutritious meal for the day.
With the enforcement of a hard lock-down The Surfer Kids therefore understood that this source of nutrition would be more important than ever before.
Out of 24 families 4 families did not have the source of income before lock-down. 2 more families lost their income during lock-down, while 9 families are fully dependent on Government Social Grants.
Based on the feedback received from families the nutritional support provided by The Surfer Kids during lock-down have played a very important part in alleviating the challenging economic circumstances.
As mentioned in previous updates, since the forced closure of our volunteer program, we are now fully reliant on donations to continue operating.
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