Help feed needy preschoolers

THE Sunshine Coast Feeding Fund currently provides over 150 preschoolers from the Nolukhanyo township in Bathurst with a nutritious breakfast every day, but need the support of public to reach more children.

Thanks to the efforts of Kay Butler who started the Sunshine Coast Feeding Fund and the support from friends and family, these children receive a bowl of e'Pap, a precooked porridge fortified with 28 nutrients, every morning.

Butler said she has noticed the difference this porridge makes in the health of the children who have "clearer skin, shinier eyes and not as many snotty noses”.

This porridge meets the nutritional needs of a preschooler for the whole day and requires no cooking, milk or sugar, only warm water. This greatly reduces costs for the preschools which receive little to no funding. A packet of e'Pap costs only R13.50 and is enough to feed 20 kids.

The feeding scheme was started six months ago at Siphucule Preschool which is sometimes attended by as many as 75 children. Thanks to donations over Christmas and regular support via stop orders, Masiphumlelele and Sinahko preschools now also benefit from this feeding scheme.

Masiphumlelele looks after 57 children aged from about nine months to five years old in a corrugated iron shanty. The preschool receives no government support or grants and only asks for R50 in school fees per child per month. The children are given two meals a day and snacks when finances allow. The adults supervising the children are all volunteers and receive no remuneration for their efforts.

Sinakho is smaller and looks after 17 children in a small township house. This is also run solely by volunteers.

"I find it so humbling that these caring lovely people give of their time and love so freely. They also have so little in the way of equipment but still manage to feed their little ones every day,” said Butler.

"The provision of e'Pap in these impoverished schools is so gratefully received and the ‘hidden hunger' being addressed by this wonderful product is priceless. My vision is to expand the Sunshine Coast Feeding Fund to include all the needy pre-schoolers on our doorstep but this is obviously only possible with your help,” she said.

Anyone who would like to help can contact Butler via e-mail at and she will send on the details of how to set up a monthly stop-order. Butler said companies who need BEE points can earn them by sponsoring the fund.

Bank account details are as follows: First National Bank, account name: Sunshine Coast Feeding Fund, Port Alfred branch, branch code 210917, account number 62349138900.

To see how the feeding fund is doing, visit .