Submitted by: Paul Smulders
Many people have asked: “What is #LoafDay?” A few months back, I was driving along and as usual one of the guys came to my window as I stopped at the robot and asked for some change. This was repeatedly done at a few intersections and it got me thinking back to when I was on SurvivorSA Season 7 this year and the hunger that kicks in …Yet one can survive on minimal food as long as you have access to water.
So, my thinking was, instead of giving just one person some money, would I not be doing a better service by giving someone food? I thought to myself that a loaf of fresh bread would be awesome to give to a few people while doing my rounds. As I randomly started handing out loaves of bread, I said to myself: ” why not rather get 20 half loaves minimum every Wednesday and make that my #LoafDay?”
I wished I could give so many more loaves as I saw how huge the demand was, and then it dawned on me … Why not get a few more people involved and try and get more loaves to those in need by starting #LoafDay Wednesday? I decided to put it on my Facebook personal page to try getting more people involved and getting to 1000 half loaves delivery to the needy every Wednesday.
Between friends sharing my plea for assistance with #LoafDay etc, the amounts grew slowly so I thought why not see if I am allowed to share it on #ImStaying.
Jarette Petzer, the group’s founder, agreed to this and from one post on the group I received such a tremendous response – 7300 likes, 971 comments of people willing to participate and get involved, and 1800 shares on social media. It got me thinking that I need to start a group that we can all share our pledges and stories to #LoafDay, as I estimated from all the comments that we would already be doing close to 4000 half loaves the following Wednesday.
A week after starting the group #LoafDay, it’s already stood at 650 members. That being said, if you take most of the members pledge to do a minimum of 4 half loaves on average and some people pledging 20 half loaves a week, we have 2600 half loaves being distributed so far every Wednesday. From people from the #ImStaying group just an average of 2000 half loaves (but I think it has doubled that), we are well onto 4000 half loaves to be handed out next week on Wednesday. We are also starting to get bigger bakeries and organizations to pledge with one bakery giving 50 loaves every week. This is amazing in such a short space of time and I am sure we can grow #LoafDay to well over 10 000 half loaves being distributed every Wednesday throughout SA.
Let us spread our love and show we care
There is nothing more heartwarming than the smiles on the faces of people when they get that hot crispy fresh bread and can’t thank you enough! Yes, one does get one or two that do not want the loaf and only want money, but they are in the minority and that just proves to me that I am giving to the right people that are truly hungry.
Let us spread our love and show we care, it only costs R20 for 2 loaves and when cut in half, it can then feed 4. #LoafDay is even going to start delivering loaves to smaller schools and organizations that are in desperate need of assistance for food and this is where bigger organizations can also pledge and make their contributions.
