Community heroes featured on Shoprite trucks

23 January 2019 | Innovation and technology

The hard work and success of two Gauteng community food gardens are being celebrated on the Shoprite Group’s truck fleet.

We’re so happy and can’t wait for one of the trucks to drive past us. It’s been an incredible journey with Shoprite thus far.

- Kenneth Siyiba, an 80-year-old volunteer at Suthani Community Food Garden.

The garden, situated in Alexandra, is run by pensioners who are determined to feed themselves and their community.

The Crisis Community Centre in Boksburg is another initiative featured on the delivery trucks. At the centre they care for orphaned and vulnerable children while their food garden feeds 700 beneficiaries.

Our partnership with Shoprite started in 2005. They’ve come alongside us to fulfil our dreams, one of which was for food security. Everyone loves the garden and we are so excited to be featured on the trucks.

- Elaine Appies, founder of the Crisis Community Centre.

These trucks will be added to the nineteen rebranded delivery trucks that are already traversing the length and breath of South Africa.

Their primary function is to deliver fresh produce at the lowest prices. But they are also moving billboards that share the stories of the heroes with whom Shoprite partner to act for change.

As a business with heart and a food retailer, one of our main objectives is to fight hunger. We do so by partnering with garden heroes in various communities, some as far afield as Lusaka, Zambia, to establish sustainable food gardens. Our involvement is not just a once-off intervention as we provide practical as well as material support over an extended period to ensure that the project succeeds and is sustained well into the future.

- Lunga Schoeman, Shoprite CSI spokesperson.