Celebrity chef cooks up some help for hungry
June 30, 2003 Edition -1
By Nadine Christians
Nutrition came under the spotlight when British chef Ainsley Harriott launched a South African campaign in the fight against hunger.
Harriott is the presenter of the popular BBC programme Ready Steady Cook.
The campaign, Unite Against Hunger, was launched at the Red Cross Home Base Project in Nyanga, Cape Town, yesterday.
It is aimed at involving the community and corporations across the country in addressing hunger, which afflicts millions of South Africans.
The campaign involves a partnership between Tiger Brands, Rotary International Southern Africa, Vodacom, Barloworld, and Deloitte and Touche.
Harriott, the initiative's goodwill ambassador, will attend various charity events throughout the country to promote the campaign and the need for communities and large and small corporations to get involved.
Harriott said yesterday: "It is all good and well talking about it, but something has to be done.
"We need to make people more aware of what the campaign is doing.
"People need nutrition because a healthier person is a more productive person."
The campaign will see donated food being distributed to poverty-stricken areas throughout the country.
People are asked to donate food while shopping by placing items in Rotary trolleys in supermarkets.
As part of the fundraising drive, the initiative has arranged with Vodacom that, if cellphone users send an SMS with the word "hunger" to 082-003-9040, R10 will be donated to the initiative. The donation will be added to the subscriber's phone bill.
Tiger Brands' social investment head, Linda Bam, said the initiative had been conceived in November when the company pledged its commitment to fighting hunger.
"We were initially looking at only a three-month campaign, but we've seen that this problem is much bigger than we had thought.
"We are urging everyone, including other food companies, to get involved because this is so much bigger than any one business or individual," Bam added.
