The Green Point Stadium was a hive of activity as thousands of walkers participated in this year’s Blisters for Bread fundraising event yesterday.
Event organisers said that with the start of the third quarter of the 2017 school year, over 300 000 youth fed by the Peninsula School Feeding Association (PSFA) will not be eating bread. Instead, pupils from the ages of six months to 19 years will enjoy a menu of fortified mealie meal for breakfast and a warm plate of food for lunch every school day.
Blisters for Bread, which was started in 1968 by concerned staff and pupils at Savio College in Lansdowne and handed over to the school feeding association to manage, has grown from strength to strength and has become a highlight on the Cape Town events calendar.
The school feeding association is an NPO that has provided meals to school children in the Western Cape for almost 60 years.
“When first established, the PSFA’s daily meal was soup and a slice of bread, sometimes with jam or peanut butter. This provided only about 15% of a child’s energy requirements and very little of the daily protein and nutrients needed,” said Laura Berry, a dietician who worked with the PFSA.
Now the school-feeding menu includes more than 10 different food items every week. These include proteins such as soy, omega 3-rich fish and beans.
Carbohydrates include samp and rice while fruit and vegetables such as carrots, cabbages, fresh oranges and apples are served daily. The cost of the daily meal is R2.50 per child per day.
PSFA’s Blisters for Bread 2017 vice-chairperson Brian Benatar said: “Thank you for participating in this year's Blisters for Bread. This is an opportunity for us, the Peninsula School Feeding Association, to share what we do with the city of Cape Town.
"It’s a great day to enjoy the beauty and nature as we unite for a very good cause.”
Lourens De Waal, managing director of Lucky Star, the title sponsor of PSFA’s Blisters for Bread 2017, said: “I’m told that every walker today has helped to feed 20 children for a day.
"This means a child in need will enjoy a warm, nutritious breakfast and lunch in the greater Cape Town region.”
The PSFA relies on donations and external funding to support its work.