Over 1 000 families receive vegetables from Brits and Pretoria farmers

The farmers collected 87 tons of fresh vegetables ranging from beans, broccoli, spinach and potatoes to naartjies, carrots and sweet potatoes to name just a few.

Many small towns around the country have been hit hard by the lockdown with hundreds of vulnerable homes struggling to feed their families.

Concerned farmers from Brits and Pretoria got together to collect fresh vegetables to help relieve the plight of hungry families in Wolmer and surrounds.

The vegetables would be donated to hundreds of families at God se Pot non-profit organisation (NPO) in Hartbeespoort; Highway church in Raslouw and Hannah charity in Wolmer.

This initiative prompted Fidelity ADT Manager Martinus Snyman to volunteer to help collect vegetables from the farmers after hearing about the initiative from his wife, Gerda, who was already involved with the Hannah charity.

Gerda said there were many households in the community with no income, no food and even some with no electricity.

“During lockdown the charities decided to work together to help feed people,” she said.

“Now is the time for us to pull together – most of these families were either working in the restaurant industry as waiters or working as car guards etc. Many are also just too young to claim pension and they are all struggling.”

The farmers collected 87 tons of fresh vegetables ranging from beans, broccoli, spinach and potatoes to naartjies, carrots and sweet potatoes to name just a few.

Collection of the vegetables was no problem but transport to the charities proved difficult when one of the trucks intended for delivery was stolen and the other two broke down.

“We managed to sponsor a 10 ton truck, along with Fidelity specialised response unit team vehicles and specialise investigative unit vehicles to collect and deliver the first set of vegetables on 21 and 22 April,” said Fidelity ADT District Manager Leon Muller.

The project, spearheaded by Bertus Ras from Star of Africa Foundation NPO and Time to Shine NPC in Wolmer, saw farmers from Rheeders boerdery, WJ boerdery, Langplaas boerdery, Wahlmansdal Evergreens and Gerlan Pak & CJ Citrus getting over 120 crates of beans, 96 crates of green peppers and 130 bags of carrots on top of many other fresh produces.

Other produces included tomatoes, cauliflower, sweet corn and potatoes.

At God se Pot NPO, meals were also cooked daily as a lot of households in the area were without electricity.

In one week Fidelity managed to deliver to about 650 families and last week teams managed to feed 800 families.

The security company also committed to sponsoring the transport vehicles on a weekly basis during the lockdown period.

“It is our honour to be able to assist. We send out a huge thank you to all the farmers who have contributed this food and to all the helpers who are selflessly assisting in collecting and cooking the food,” said Muller.