Minnie Dlamini teams up with Jaguar Land Rover for #FeedingSATogether

Jaguar Land Rover SA and the Minnie Dlamini Foundation have teamed up to help feed orphans and the elderly around the country who may not have access to regular meals during the Covid-19 lockdown.

The South African Red Cross Society will use Land-Rovers to distribute food parcels and continue to educate communities about the coronavirus.

The non-profit initiative #FeedingSATogether has already seen the delivery of 90 Nutriwell food packs to the Khayalethu school near Knysna in the Western Cape.

With the help of the Red Cross, a further 200 packs have been distributed to orphanages and old age homes in Gauteng: specifically Soweto, Daveyton, Germiston, Brakpan and Benoni.

Jaguar Land Rover and Minnie Dlamini are now calling on any company, business or individual who is able to contribute to the cause to donate to the campaign in order to extend the service to other areas.

“Hunger is a daily battle in South Africa, even outside of the harsh circumstances many find themselves in at the moment,” said Dlamini, who is a Jaguar brand ambassador. In 2014 she founded the Minnie Dlamini Foundation as a charity organisation to help educate young South African girls.

“The lockdown, although absolutely necessary, has shone a light on the fact that malnutrition and hunger is a massive challenge which has only been intensified by this pandemic.”

One Nutriwell food pack is normally priced at R250 and can feed a single person for up to a month. It includes vegetable soup, soya mince, instant porridge and nutritious instant shakes. For this initiative, Nutriwell has made the packs available at a discounted price of R220.

Each delivery also includes a hand sanitiser from Dlamini’s own line of personal beauty products. Diageo SA, a leading spirits manufacturer, is providing the main ingredient (alcohol) in the sanitisers for free.

Sibani Mngadi, Diageo SA's director of corporate relations, said the company had donated 10,000 litres of alcohol.

“Over and above this donation, our employees have contributed R125,000 towards purchasing food boxes that will be distributed to 550 needy individuals through our employee volunteerism scheme, Valuing Each Other (VEO),” he said.

Lisa Mallett, Jaguar Land Rover SA's marketing director, said the joint initiative would have a positive impact on isolated communities and would reach more people than the car company could have ever done alone.

Jaguar Land Rover, in co-operation with the Minnie Dlamini Foundation, has set up a Backabuddy platform where anyone can donate to the cause.

“This health emergency can be overcome by co-operation on many levels. Together with Minnie, we have developed an easy way for anyone to make a difference,” added Tina Pienaar-Smit, Jaguar Land Rover's PR and sponsorship specialist.

“We sincerely hope this initiative will meet at least some of the unprecedented demand for nutritious foods in various communities.”

All proceeds will be used for securing additional Nutriwell food boxes, which will be distributed to those in need by the South African Red Cross.

Anyone interested in donating can do so here.