Somerset West residents Judy Brower and her husband Kevin Kidson run www.wine.co.za – the South African Wine Portal, which was established in
1996.
They have a passion for making a difference in South Africa, and partner with and support The Pebbles Project, StreetSmartSA and the Pinotage Youth Development Academy (PYDA), who train up young people in wine tourism.
Wine.co.za have an annual 12-month learnership programme, and employ two of the PYDA graduates in their content team.
To focus on all the positive stories from the South African winelands, Judy and Kevin launched the #wineforgood initiative in 2016, and set up a website dedicated to all the good news stories, and in April, they published a good news story every single day (see hundreds of the good news stories at www.wineforgood.co.za).
The wine industry and its workers are struggling under the current lockdown restrictions, says Judy.
“If anyone is keen to help, share these stories far and wide and let’s flood the world with good news from the winelands.
“So much change and so much good is being done too… and hats off to the Pebbles team for using their kitchen to feed not only the children in need but also those families struggling during these trying times,” she adds.
Pebbles is an NGO operating in the Boland and Helderberg, and they need help. Pebbles’ goal is to provide 5 000 to 6 000 meals daily, either as frozen prepared meals or dry family food parcels (rice, veg, mielie meal, eggs etc).
On Monday April 6, a total of
2 936 meals were delivered to some of the Stellenbosch farm worker communities, a soup kitchen in Kylemore and 200 families in Lwandle near Strand.
Another 2 500 meals were prepared in the Pebbles kitchen, ready for delivery the next day.
The feeding scheme for vulnerable communities is a partnership with Stellenbosch Municipality and Stellenbosch Civil Action Network (SCAN), which allows Pebbles to provide up to 4 000 people with a nutritious meal on a daily basis, prepared in the Pebbles food
production facility at Joostenberg.
These meals will feed families on farms where Pebbles has an early childhood centre or after-school club, as well as families in other local communities which have been identified by the municipality as in dire need of food.
Food parcels and cooked meals are being provided.
The food parcels consist of dry goods and some fresh ingredients designed to produce 56 meals, which is two meals a day for a family of four for seven days.
“Thank you, as well, to Paul and Jolanda van Haperen at Clouds Wine and Guest Estate, for making this happen,” says Judy.
Anybody who would like to make a donation to Pebbles’ feeding project (a food parcel costs R150) can contact sponsorachild@pebblesproject.co.za
For more information on the other organisations, visit www.streetsmartsa.org.za or www.pyda.co.za
