CTICC supports COVID-19 Food Distribution Project in Cape Town

The impact of the lockdown restrictions necessary to slow the spread of Covid-19, has been devastating on the most vulnerable and poverty stricken communities of our City. However, in the wonderful spirit of South African Ubuntu, the citizens and businesses of Cape Town, (the Mother City), have risen to the occasion to help ease one hardship – hunger – within her destitute communities.

The Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC) is proud to announce that we have partnered with Ladles of Love, an NPO with a heart and tummy-warming mission, to feed those that do not have access to and the privilege of a meal during these challenging times.

Ladles of Love is a soup kitchen and feeding scheme that provides an essential service to the homeless community and other vulnerable people of Cape Town, especially now during the Corona Virus outbreak. In less than a month, volunteers associated with this Cape Town organisation have had to dramatically increase their cooked meals production by 1000%, from about 200 meals a day to over 2000 meals a day.

“This sudden high demand has stretched our organisation at a logistical level, seeing us completely outgrow our current headquarters. We are immensely grateful to the CTICC for coming to the rescue. The centre has offered us more than 1500m2 of space to serve as Ladles of Love’s temporary logistics headquarters from 27 April to 30 June 2020,” says ex-restaurateur Danny Diliberto, who founded the NPO in 2014.

“Ladles of Love has been inundated with support from all corners of the City. The truth is everyone wants to help and be part of the solution, whether by donating money, volunteering their time, making food or mobilising support. This has been both incredible and overwhelming. We intend to not only keep feeding our existing clients but to expand as much as we can to support the efforts of the City and other NPOs working together to feed the vulnerable at this time.” Diliberto concluded.

“I can’t tell you how grateful and honoured we at the CTICC feel, to have been offered the opportunity to contribute in making a small difference to the lives of the vulnerable citizens of Cape Town. To be able to support Ladles of Love in this nurturing and dignity-restoring mission is a privilege. At the CTICC, we subscribe to a triple bottom line business approach, which encompasses people, planet and profit,” says Taubie Motlhabane, CEO of the CTICC.

“We currently support five local community partners (LCPs) annually, in various ways. The CTICC contributed R1.6 million to CSR activities and participated in over 20 CSR activations over the last financial year. Some of our LCP activities include education, water-wise projects, community farming and urban gardens, to name a few. All CTICC staff play an active role in these programmes either through the giving of their time or by donating goods.

Our venue sponsorship to Ladles of Love is a vital contribution to a serious need. It is focused on empowering the NPO to do the massive and important job of feeding the hungry citizens of Cape Town, at the most difficult time in our City and Country.

We have offered one exhibition hall and a kitchen for use as temporary headquarters for Ladles of Love. The venue will be used to prepare, package and dispatch the food parcels by Ladles of Love’s volunteers, to the various distribution points around Cape Town.  Our facilities will also allow Danny and the team to do their essential work while also protecting their volunteers by having enough space to maintain the required social distance. We are also very grateful and proud to announce that our facilities cleaning contractor, Bidvest Prestige, have donated their cleaning services to this wonderful project,” Motlhabane added.

“It is a great feeling to assist Ladles of Love to have the best possible space and equipment to produce food for those that are the most in need during this unparalleled time that we find ourselves in,” added the CTICC’s Executive Chef, Roberto De Carvalho.

Western Cape Minister of Finance and Economic Opportunities, David Maynier, expressed appreciation to all involved: “Thank you to the CTICC for stepping forward to offer their facilities as temporary headquarters for Ladles of Love – a great organisation doing important work to feed the many people who are in need during the lockdown. This initiative is one of the many ways that individuals and organisations are contributing to the effort to stop the spread of Corona Virus during this crisis, and I would like to thank everyone for their hard work during this challenging time.

Alderman James Vos, Mayoral Committee Member for Economic Opportunities and Asset Management at City of Cape Town had this to say: “The City of Cape Town is a proud shareholder of the Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC). This iconic fac​ility contributes significantly to the Cape Town economy in terms of revenue, jobs, goods and services from locally based suppliers. It fills my heart with joy to learn about the involvement of the CTICC with this very worthy undertaking, especially during these difficult times. It is encouraging to see this crucial entity stepping up to assist and support vulnerable residents.”

From Monday, 27 April, licensed distributors will be able to drop off and collect donations at the CTICC. The logistics of this operation will be made available by Ladles of Love. The Ladles of Love distribution model ensures that donations are packaged and then re-distributed into the communities that need them, so no feeding will take place at the CTICC.

For information regarding donating or volunteering, please contact Ladles of Love on info@ladlesoflove.org.za. You can also visit www.ladlesoflove.org.za or the Ladles of Love Facebook page @LadlesofloveCT and Instagram @ladlesoflove.

For more information on the CTICC, visit cticc.co.za, connect with us on LinkedIn, Cape Town International Convention Centre, like us on Face book @CTICC or follow us on Twitter  @CTICC_Official and Instagram, official_cticc #ExperienceExtraordinary.