A group of 45 Students, alumni and staff from Stellenbosch University (SU) raised R140 000 by participating in the Cape Town Cycle Tour (CTCT) earlier this month. The money would go to students who faced food insecurity. This was according to Ilse Arendse, the communications manager at alumni and donor engagement at SU, via email correspondence with MatieMedia.
“We are delighted to have raised over R99 661 via our GivenGain platform for this CTCT 2023 initiative and also R43 768.80 via our direct SU online giving system towards this initiative,” said Arendse. That is more than a R100 000 increase from the R38 900 that was raised by SU affiliates during the 2022 CTCT, she said.
Members of the Move4Maties cycle team after the jacket ceremony on 9 March. It is still possible to donate to the initiative on GivenGain or through the Stellenbosch University’s online portal. PHOTO: Stefani Terblanche
The importance of Move4Food
The money raised was donated to the Move4Food initiative, said Arendse.
Move4Food is one of the eight initiatives under SU’s Bridge the Gap Annual Fund, that aims to remove the obstacles and financial barriers that students face on their “road to success”, stated Arendse.
Karen Bruns, senior director of development and alumni relations at Stellenbosch University, explains how the Move4Food initiative works.
The initiative started in 2017 after research suggested that 30% of university students in South Africa struggle with food insecurity. This was according to Viwe Benxa, junior alumni participation coordinator and Bridge the Gap ambassador. Benxa was speaking at the Move4Maties jersey ceremony in the week prior to the cycle tour.
“[According to a study, some students] go to school, go to class hungry. There are some cases of students actually fainting in class because of not having access to food,” Viwe Benxa, junior alumni participation coordinator and Stellenbosch University’s Bridge the Gap ambassador explained during a recent Move4Maties event. PHOTO: Stefani Terblanche
Benxa also read out a testimony of a student who utilised the initiative: “Many of us have nowhere to turn to when we are faced with hunger […] Move4Food’s contribution is the reason that we smile and still uphold our dignity as students of Stellenbosch.”
“I signed up mainly to raise funds for the Bridge the Gap foundation,” said Bruno Semwayo, an SU alumnus, who participated in the CTCT on 12 March. “I managed to raise over R1450, which is not a lot, but it helps in some way,” he added.
From the left: Ferdinand Mettler, a Stellenbosch University (SU) alumnus and Future Fund ambassador, Braam de Villiers and his father Wim de Villiers, the vice-chancellor and rector of SU, and Ashraf Kagee, a professor of Psychology at Stellenbosch University, who participated in the Cape Town Cycle Tour on 12 March. De Villiers stated that during the pandemic participation and funding for this initiative took a “bit of a knock”, but that they are “definitely back with a bang”. PHOTO: Supplied/William Sezoe