A report by StatsSA show that in 2021, roughly 2.1 million South African households experienced hunger. As today marks World Food Day, many citizens still fall asleep hungry.

With food insecurity so rife in the country, one organisation aiming to provide South Africans with much needed sustenance is Ladles of Love.

The organisation’s founder, Danny Diliberto, says he is very passionate about touching people’s lives and the best way he knows how is through food. Despite criticism of whether or not providing a meal is sustainable, Diliberto says Ladles of Love’s aim to provide as much food as they possibly can to as many people as possible.

“Food is a basic human right. None of us should have a choice whether we eat or not.”

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The StatsSA 2021 report also shows that children aged five years-old and younger were experiencing hunger, and that was in more than half a million homes in the country.

Diliberto says it’s especially important providing meals to children in the Early Childhood Development (ECD) stage, as many of them have their first and only meal when they get to ECD centres.

“A lot of [the children] that go to these Early Childhood Development centres, they don’t have food at home.”

Ladles of Love recently commemorated “World Homeless Day” by providing a sit down meal for over 1 000 people experiencing homelessness in Gauteng and Cape Town.

“For us, every day is World Food Day. This is what we do, we are out there getting as much food as we can to the people that need our help.”

Collaboration for change

Diliberto says an important part of enacting change, and being able to provide food, is collaborating with volunteers, donors, stakeholders and corporates.

“We [Ladles of Love] have access into communities, we have a system that can access nutritious meals to people that don’t have access to food and through this power of collaboration – together we can keep our nation from starving.”