Cape Town - The aims of the Avian Park Community Garden Club to boost sustainability and combat food scarcity in Worcester have been boosted after the club received 500 indigenous and fruit trees from Shoprite for their new Home Tree Project.
Shoprite has been a long-time supporter of the community, having enriched a variety of their food gardens and early childhood development centres since 2018.
The Home Tree Project in Avian Park incorporates the Worcester community and the environment in hopes of increasing food production and battling unemployment, as well as positively affecting the community’s environmental impact.
The garden club incorporates 46 home-based food gardens that assist four soup kitchens, five crèches, a school and more than 500 elderly people who cannot afford to buy food for themselves.
Shoprite Group’s corporate social investment manager, Lunga Schoeman, said the donation was aimed at ensuring that the community becomes even more sustainable.
“We are piloting the Home Tree Project in Avian Park because of how successful they have been in fighting hunger under difficult conditions.”
The club’s chairperson, Gerhard Carolus, said the project would help to breathe life into their environment and community.
“We will also be able to feed our families with fruit, which is a much-needed addition to our nutrition.
“Our relationship with Shoprite dates back to 2018, when they invested in our community food garden, as well as homestead gardens.
“I do not know what we would do without Shoprite. With their support, we are feeding hundreds of people who have no means to feed themselves,” said Carolus.
Cape Argus