A donation drive run through Stellenbosch’s CoCreate Hub has delivered a fresh supply of staples to Siena Nutrition Centre in Kylemore, coming at a time when many local farm worker households are without income between seasons, according to Stellenbosch-based NGO, Feeding in Action.
The effort began after Siena Charles, who runs the centre, told Sonya Olivier, CoCreate Hub marketing manager, that expected funding for the soup kitchen had fallen through. In response, the Hub put out a call for support in the community through posters circulated online for Mandela month, according to Olivier.
Siena Charles gives a thumbs up beside the donations delivered through a recent community drive organised by Stellenbosch’s CoCreate Hub — canned goods, rice, onions, carrots and butternut among the supplies now stocked at her nutrition centre in Kylemore. The centre feeds up to 300 people a day when seasonal farm work dries up, and the donation has helped stretch its supplies for about a month.PHOTO: Supplied/Sonya Olivier
“What surprised me was how quickly the first donation landed…literally within minutes from posting the request,” Olivier said.
She added that a learner at Eikestad Primary School also organised a school outreach project around the centre, delivering additional food on the same day.
Charles said the centre currently feeds around 200 people a day, a number that climbs to 300 when seasonal farm work dries up.
A handmade sign marks the entrance to Siena’s Nutrition Centre in Kylemore. The centre, which feeds up to 300 people a day during lean seasons, recently received a boost through a community donation drive run by Stellenbosch’s CoCreate Hub, according to Sonya Olivier, the Hub’s marketing manager. PHOTO: Ella Bosman
“I don’t want anyone to leave here without at least a little bit of food,” she said. “I make a plan so that everyone, everyone gets something.”
The recent donation helped stretch the centre’s supplies further than usual.
“We managed to stretch it far enough to give everyone a warm plate of food,” Charles said.
“With everything we had, we got through about a month.”
The drive raised approximately R1 000 in cash via EFT and SnapScan, mostly from anonymous donors, along with a gas bottle refill funded from Germany, and vegetables and canned goods dropped off by friends of the Hub and community members, said Olivier.
Olivier said the donation’s real significance lay less in its size than in the community response it drew.
Siena Charles, who runs Siena Nutrition Centre in Kylemore, recently received an influx of donations that will help keep her soup kitchen running during the quieter winter season. PHOTO: Supplied/Sonya Olivier
“The bigger story wasn’t really the quantity of goods or the amount of money raised, but the fact that there is this community around the CoCreate Hub, and people were willing to pull together for Tannie Siena,” she said.
Feeding in Action (FIA), which has supported Charles’ feeding point since 2011, said her 15-year relationship with the organisation has been marked by her going beyond the basics for her community.
In a response to SMF News from Liesel Koen, manager of FIA, and Kelly-Ann Otto, operations manager of FIA, confirmed that they have noticed the same seasonal strain Olivier described.
“As the work is seasonal, [we do] notice the pattern of more people coming for food assistance at Charles’ feeding point in Kylemore, after the seasonal work is completed,” Koen and Otto said.
“Siena always noticed extra needs and always did extra things for her people,” they said, citing events she has organised for women on Women’s Day and for children at Christmas.
The original donation drive poster, circulated by the CoCreate Hub, calling on the Stellenbosch community to support the Siena Nutrition Centre. PHOTO: Supplied/Sonya Olivier
FIA, which supports more than 60 feeding points across the broader Stellenbosch area, said rising costs have made it harder for businesses to donate as generously as before.
“Every donation, big or small, matters,” they said. “You matter, so please continue to assist where you can.”
Olivier said The CoCreate Hub is exploring ways to build more consistent, ongoing community support for the centre.
“It’s purely out of love that I do this,” Charles said. “I don’t want to see anyone go to bed hungry tonight.”