Journey's End Vineyards launches new community project in Stellenbosch

Mienkie’s Soup Kitchen in Sir Lowry’s Pass, which is providing meals for the local community as part of the Journey’s End Foundation.

Comments MD Rollo Gabb, “The South African economy continues to be very badly affected by Covid-19, with the Western Cape in particular hit by zero tourism and close to zero hospitality. This, coupled with a recent ban on domestic wine sales, has severely impacted the wine industry, and a 10pm curfew is killing the restaurant sector, leading to a very significant increase in unemployment. With very little government support, many families are now unable to bring any food to the table and starvation in the Cape is a real risk. It has been reported that some 20,000 people in Stellenbosch alone are at risk of hunger.

“We completed the set-up of The Journey’s End Foundation earlier this month, realising we needed to move fast. Journey’s End has committed funds to provide food for just over 400,000 meals through a network of nine soup kitchens over the coming 12 months. The Journey’s End team is working to develop this network to facilitate 10,000 meals per week by the end of October.”

The team running the soup kitchens. Front row: Nomama Hendrick aka Mienkie, Wendy Wynand (JE Foundation director), Elsie Capuka and Veronica Williams. Back row: Cemelia Malan aka Mila, Hettie Orffer from the Youth4Life/Beat the Bully Team, Joyce Flaunder and Rachel Davids

In setting up the foundation, they have worked closely with Hettie Orffer, CEO and developer of the ‘Beat the Bully’ programme – another programme funded exclusively by Journeys End, which focuses on eradicating bullying in the Cape townships through education and intervention. For more details about The Journey’s End Foundation, email az.oc.dnesyenruoj@ofni.