Lavender Hill Community Feeding Initiative
Donation protected
**This fundraiser is closed. Thank you so much to everyone who contributed. Visit Philisa Abafazi Bethu'sFacebook to keep up to date with the feeding program, and see how your donations are being used.**
My name is Emma Fowkes. I'm 18 years old and just returned home to the Chicagoland area from South Africa, where I had been participating in a service-learning program for two months. The community I was working in, Lavender Hill, is close to my heart, and I'm asking for your help to support them in this time of crisis. Ever since the South African Government enacted a nationwide quarantine due to COVID-19, adults have been left without means of income, social grant payouts (welfare) are delayed, and children have been unable to receive their daily meals at school. The organization I volunteered for, Philisa Abafazi Bethu, has embarked on an initiative to provide meals for the families of Lavender Hill during this period of instability. I'm asking for your help in raising the funds necessary for Phlisa Abafazi Bethu to proceed with their mission of ensuring the health and safety of every community member. The team has been working tirelessly since March 30th to distribute meals and plans to continue as long as funds allow for. Your money will go straight towards purchasing the foodstuffs, which will then be handed directly to community members in need- 1,500 meals per day, across 4 different sites, five days a week. The cost of serving food for one week (7,500 meals) is $415.56, and the program is projected to continue through the week of May 4th. Any contribution, no matter how small, is greatly appreciated!! Just one dollar is enough for thirty servings of rice.
A more comprehensive rundown:
Lavender Hill is a community located in the Cape Peninsula of South Africa. Over the past two months, I spent my time volunteering for Philisa Abafazi Bethu, a non-profit organization that provides services for the community of Lavender Hill and engages in activism against gender-based violence. Philisa Abafazi Bethu is a phrase in the Xhosa language that translates to "heal our women". Philisa Abafazi Bethu offers an array of services for community members such as: an emergency safehouse for victims of domestic abuse, numerous afterschool programs for youth, court support for domestic violence cases, a women's support group, a program for older persons, a search and rescue team for missing children, and an array of counseling services. Essentially, they are committed to providing a safe haven for those facing challenging circumstances.
Lavender Hill is located in an area known as the "Cape Flats", established during the apartheid era as a result of the Group Areas Act of 1950. During apartheid, it was illegal for people of different races to live in the same area. Consequently, tens of thousands of non-white people were forcibly removed from their homes and cruelly relocated to underresourced, densely populated "townships" such as Lavender Hill. Although apartheid officially ended in the early 1990's, the ramifications still run deep. Lavender Hill faces a multitude of challenges including high levels of drug abuse, violence, gangsterism, and crime. Many families struggle to put food on the table as is, and the impact of COVID-19 is making the situation direr every day.
Due to being placed on strict quarantine for 5 weeks by order of the South African government, families in Lavender Hill are now left without a means of income, childcare, or access to services which organizations like Philisa Abafazi Bethu usually offer. Children often rely on the meals provided at school five days a week for nourishment, so the lockdown will be impacting the wellbeing of Lavender Hill's youth particularly harshly.
Lucinda Evans, the founder and executive director of Philisa Abafazi Bethu, has worked assiduously to meet the needs of her community and is certainly not stopping now. She has organized a feeding program for Lavender Hill residents, which began on March 30th. Ms. Evans and her team will be distributing 1,500 meals per day, across 4 different sites, five days a week. The cost of the four upcoming weeks of the feeding program is estimated to be a minimum of 30,000 South African Rand (national currency), which is $1,661.36. The need is growing every day, with just 400 children waiting for meals at one of the four sites recently. Ms. Evans is enlisting the help of the Philisa Abafazi Bethu staff to prepare the meals while community volunteers help distribute. See below for photos of their work so far.
Every donation, regardless of amount, is extremely impactful. I crunched the numbers and donating just $1 can provide 30 servings of rice. For more detailed information regarding the meals provided and finances of the operation, do not hesitate to reach out to me ([email redacted]), as Ms. Evans has sent me the budget details. I would also be more than happy to answer any additional questions about Philisa Abafazi Bethu or their community feeding initiative. Please check out the links below for more information on Lucinda Evans and Philisa Abafazi Bethu.
About Philisa Abafazi Bethu:
Facebook
Official Website
Short Documentary
Government Page
About Lucinda Evans:
Wikipedia
BBC 2019 top 100 women
History of Philisa Abafazi Bethu
Update (04/23/20):
Thank you so much to all who have donated. Although conditions in Lavender Hill are worsening due to COVID-19, Philisa Abafazi Bethu continues to work day in and day out to get community members what they need. Operations have been going very smoothly. Now that I'm nearing my goal amount, I'm going to start withdrawing the funds to transfer to Lucinda Evans. Because South Africa is not on the list of countries supported by Gofundme, Lucinda Evans will not be able to directly withdraw the money raised. Instead, the money will go to my bank account first, which I will then send directly to Philisa Abafazi Bethu's bank account via electronic bank transfer. Be sure to check their Facebook to keep up to date with the program.
My name is Emma Fowkes. I'm 18 years old and just returned home to the Chicagoland area from South Africa, where I had been participating in a service-learning program for two months. The community I was working in, Lavender Hill, is close to my heart, and I'm asking for your help to support them in this time of crisis. Ever since the South African Government enacted a nationwide quarantine due to COVID-19, adults have been left without means of income, social grant payouts (welfare) are delayed, and children have been unable to receive their daily meals at school. The organization I volunteered for, Philisa Abafazi Bethu, has embarked on an initiative to provide meals for the families of Lavender Hill during this period of instability. I'm asking for your help in raising the funds necessary for Phlisa Abafazi Bethu to proceed with their mission of ensuring the health and safety of every community member. The team has been working tirelessly since March 30th to distribute meals and plans to continue as long as funds allow for. Your money will go straight towards purchasing the foodstuffs, which will then be handed directly to community members in need- 1,500 meals per day, across 4 different sites, five days a week. The cost of serving food for one week (7,500 meals) is $415.56, and the program is projected to continue through the week of May 4th. Any contribution, no matter how small, is greatly appreciated!! Just one dollar is enough for thirty servings of rice.
A more comprehensive rundown:
Lavender Hill is a community located in the Cape Peninsula of South Africa. Over the past two months, I spent my time volunteering for Philisa Abafazi Bethu, a non-profit organization that provides services for the community of Lavender Hill and engages in activism against gender-based violence. Philisa Abafazi Bethu is a phrase in the Xhosa language that translates to "heal our women". Philisa Abafazi Bethu offers an array of services for community members such as: an emergency safehouse for victims of domestic abuse, numerous afterschool programs for youth, court support for domestic violence cases, a women's support group, a program for older persons, a search and rescue team for missing children, and an array of counseling services. Essentially, they are committed to providing a safe haven for those facing challenging circumstances.
Lavender Hill is located in an area known as the "Cape Flats", established during the apartheid era as a result of the Group Areas Act of 1950. During apartheid, it was illegal for people of different races to live in the same area. Consequently, tens of thousands of non-white people were forcibly removed from their homes and cruelly relocated to underresourced, densely populated "townships" such as Lavender Hill. Although apartheid officially ended in the early 1990's, the ramifications still run deep. Lavender Hill faces a multitude of challenges including high levels of drug abuse, violence, gangsterism, and crime. Many families struggle to put food on the table as is, and the impact of COVID-19 is making the situation direr every day.
Due to being placed on strict quarantine for 5 weeks by order of the South African government, families in Lavender Hill are now left without a means of income, childcare, or access to services which organizations like Philisa Abafazi Bethu usually offer. Children often rely on the meals provided at school five days a week for nourishment, so the lockdown will be impacting the wellbeing of Lavender Hill's youth particularly harshly.
Lucinda Evans, the founder and executive director of Philisa Abafazi Bethu, has worked assiduously to meet the needs of her community and is certainly not stopping now. She has organized a feeding program for Lavender Hill residents, which began on March 30th. Ms. Evans and her team will be distributing 1,500 meals per day, across 4 different sites, five days a week. The cost of the four upcoming weeks of the feeding program is estimated to be a minimum of 30,000 South African Rand (national currency), which is $1,661.36. The need is growing every day, with just 400 children waiting for meals at one of the four sites recently. Ms. Evans is enlisting the help of the Philisa Abafazi Bethu staff to prepare the meals while community volunteers help distribute. See below for photos of their work so far.
Every donation, regardless of amount, is extremely impactful. I crunched the numbers and donating just $1 can provide 30 servings of rice. For more detailed information regarding the meals provided and finances of the operation, do not hesitate to reach out to me ([email redacted]), as Ms. Evans has sent me the budget details. I would also be more than happy to answer any additional questions about Philisa Abafazi Bethu or their community feeding initiative. Please check out the links below for more information on Lucinda Evans and Philisa Abafazi Bethu.
About Philisa Abafazi Bethu:
Official Website
Short Documentary
Government Page
About Lucinda Evans:
Wikipedia
BBC 2019 top 100 women
History of Philisa Abafazi Bethu
Update (04/23/20):
Thank you so much to all who have donated. Although conditions in Lavender Hill are worsening due to COVID-19, Philisa Abafazi Bethu continues to work day in and day out to get community members what they need. Operations have been going very smoothly. Now that I'm nearing my goal amount, I'm going to start withdrawing the funds to transfer to Lucinda Evans. Because South Africa is not on the list of countries supported by Gofundme, Lucinda Evans will not be able to directly withdraw the money raised. Instead, the money will go to my bank account first, which I will then send directly to Philisa Abafazi Bethu's bank account via electronic bank transfer. Be sure to check their Facebook to keep up to date with the program.
Organizer
Emma Fowkes
Organizer
Wilmette, IL