Food Lover’s Market Malmesbury has joined forces with Elkana Childcare, as their CSI partner for the year, kicking off with a team building where they refreshed the building and grounds and brought lots of healthy food.
Food Lover’s Market is a company built on traditional family values such as trust, honesty and integrity. It shapes everything from our team training, company culture and importantly, how we engage with our communities. Through the Earth Lovers programme, every Food Lover’s Market store partners with a children’s non-profit organisation (NPO) within a 10 km radius of each store, providing nutritious, fresh produce and groceries to those who need it most. Through these partnerships, we feed over 10,000 children every month. You can read more about our local NPO partnerships on our website.
On 17 November 2023, the Food Lover’s Market Malmesbury and the Earth Lover’s team spent the day at Elkana Childcare in Malmesbury, beginning the partnership between the new Food Lover’s Market store and the renowned childcare centre. Elkana Childcare, founded in 2000, began as a small, informal project, providing a soup kitchen, free clothing, and access to social work services for about 30 – 40 children living and working on the streets of Malmesbury. The work resulted in the successful re-integration of street children back into communities, thereby drastically reducing, almost eradicating the presence of children on the streets of Malmesbury and some other surrounding Swartland areas.
Today, the organisation sees more than 200 children (Grade R to Matric) through its doors every day, with their academic, counselling, and developmental needs being facilitated by qualified and experienced social workers. Read more about Elkana Childcare’s programmes.
The Malmesbury team spent the day painting and decorating the building (led by our signwriter artists), taking the time to make their space brighter and happier. They also helped with gardening, and some of our bravest colleagues even ventured onto the jungle gym to provide a full service to the structures. It’s also no surprise, too, that the team brought with them loads of food and goodies for the kids and Elkana staff, making the day even better.
It was an eye-opening day, filled with smiles, laughter and gratitude. Food Lover’s Market Malmesbury thanks Elkana Childcare for hosting us, for letting us into your community and for introducing us to the warm heart of Malmesbury. The Food Lover’s team hopes to make these visits to Elkana a monthly recurrence, solidifying the relationship between the 2 organisations.
This outing was not only volunteer work but also served as a team-building experience for the Malmesbury team. The team was hired 3 months in advance of the store’s opening in November 2023, to begin their training. The last 2 weeks of this period are the most rigorous, and the team begins packing the store and getting ready for the big opening day. This visit was a great way for the team to get to know one another outside the store, connecting over an act of community service.
To read more about our CSI initiatives, and our beneficiary organisations or to find out how your organisation can be a partner, you can reach us at earthlovers@fvc.co.za.
Keep up to date with the latest Food Lover’s Market Malmesbury news, updates and weekly specials by following the Malmesbury Facebook page.
