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Meals On Wheels SA Goes All Out For Hunger-Busting Charity Drive
Meals On Wheels SA Goes All Out For Hunger-Busting Charity Drive
drive
The cycle tour will begin in Kimberly, Northern Cape, on 28 February and end in Cape Town on 3
March. Funds raised from the tour will go towards providing meals for the disadvantaged and needy.
Meals on Wheels feeds thousands of families every day and conducts feeding schemes in poor
schools in the Northern Cape.
poor, the vulnerable, the disabled and the elderly in society. The poorest of the poor refer to persons
with little or no income such as old-age pension, disability pension, child care grants etc. The
vulnerable include women with children, child-headed households and orphans.
Target groups are: previously disadvantaged groups, previously underdeveloped areas, targeting the
poorest of the poor, the vulnerable and the elderly.
4. What is your mission?
To identify the social, health, family life and welfare needs of the community and to co-ordinate,
through our branches and service points, meaningful care, using available resources, motivated by
supreme love for God and impartial love for our fellow men to the ultimate glory of God.
5. What are your challenges?
We are still faced with imbalances of the past most previously disadvantaged groups do not have
access to formal infrastructure and facilities. Rectifying these imbalances is a priority for us. There
are 12 million people facing hunger every day. We are currently serving just over a million people
per month, so our task has only just begun!
6. What was the purpose of this establishment in 1964?
The purpose at that time was to provide meals for the elderly in the community.
7. How has it evolved since then?
MOWCS has since then, evolved into a national programme, targeting not just the elderly in the
community, but also the poorest of the poor and the vulnerable people of South Africa. The service
has expanded to deal with poverty in general, and in the case of the younger generation, the idea is
to provide them with skills and capacity to empower these individuals to become self-sustainable
over a period of six months to a year. For this purpose, we encourage existing Meals on Wheels
branches to expand their services to include service centres where the basket of services will slot in.
8. What is the purpose of these service centres and what does the basket of services include?
The purpose of a service centre is to assist elderly persons to remain active and self-supporting
within their community for as long as it is physically possible. Note that this is an essential service in
the community as the majority of South Africans will never be able to afford accommodation in a
frail-care centre. Some of these centers are subsidised by the government only for support services,
hence the funding by MOWCS SA for the provision of meals at the centers on daily basis. Service
centres for the elderly and multi-purpose service centres provide services between three and five
days a week.
Other service-centre activities include the following:
Daily worship; weekly Bible studies and church services; crafts such as dress making, knitting and
sewing, the making and decorating of gift boxes, bags and cards; cake decorating for special
occasions; flower arranging; catering for events; home-based care, home visits and assisted living;
exercise programmes; health talks; hairdressing; laundry services; and transport services.
9. In which other areas are offices of the organisation?
The following six areas are divisions of MOWCS SA in the nine provinces of South Africa: Eastern
Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, the Free State, the Northern Cape, Trans-Orange Conference, Transvaal
Conference and the Western Cape.