Add Hope, a powerful initiative that sees KFC customers and staff unite in the fight against hunger, has now reached the milestone of feeding 120 000 children around the country nutritious meals, every day. In a country where hunger and poor nutrition pose a major risk to the health, wellbeing and education of millions of children, initiatives like this are playing a vital role.
Feeding 120 000 children requires a considerable amount of funding on an ongoing basis, money which KFC raises through customer donations added at the till or on the Add Hope website, as well as donating a percentage of profits as its own Corporate Social Responsibility contribution. In 2016, Add Hope raised R39 million, with every cent of customer R2 donations going towards feeding children. Over the past seven years, Add Hope has raised just over R387 million.
“Add Hope works because it’s a small donation that is quick to add,” says Thabisa Mkhwanazi, KFC Africa Marketing Director. “The R2 donations from customers, combined with our own contributions, all add up! We really appreciate these donations which have grown each year, enabling Add Hope to keep increasing the amount of children we reach. We are passionate about the cause of hunger relief and the more we can raise together, the more children we can help to learn, grow and thrive. And that means a more positive future for all of us.”
KFC has taken a partnership approach to ensure that every R2 donation reaches children in the most effective way, supporting sustainable feeding programmes at a growing list of 116 beneficiary organisations. The distribution of the funds is carefully administered by the KFC Social Responsibility Trust.
“We currently work with 12 larger, national beneficiaries, including JAM, Afrika Tikkun and SOS Children’s Villages, as well as 104 smaller organisations that are chosen by the teams at our restaurants so that they can have an impact in their local communities,” says Mkhwanazi. “The funds can only be used for feeding children from birth to 18, including on-site feeding and food parcels that are sent out to families. Beneficiaries including childhood development organisations, children’s homes and school feeding programmes are added every year.”
Mkhwanazi says that a challenge faced by Add Hope is getting more customers to be aware that their full donation will go to filling tummies. “It’s so important for us to drive awareness of food security issues in South Africa and to show people how their Add Hope donation really changes lives,” says Mkhwanazi. “We’re working hard to do that all year round, including our special campaigns for World Hunger Day on 28 May and World Hunger Month in October.”
Add Hope, born in South Africa, is now being adopted by KFC in other countries as part of parent company YUM! International’s focus on hunger relief. “We’re proud that we can use our iconic brand status to contribute to society and tackle the world’s number one health risk – hunger. The success of Add Hope shows that if we all pull together, even the smallest contribution can have a major impact. Your R2 fills 120 000 children with hope.”
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To find out more about the Add Hope, visit www.addhope.co.za
#AddHope
About KFC:
KFC is part of Yum! Brands, Inc., the world’s largest restaurant company in terms of system restaurants with more than 36,000 restaurants in more than 117 countries and 1.4 million company and franchise associates. Yum! is ranked #214 on the Fortune 500 List, with revenues of more than $12 billion in 2011. KFC Corporation, based in Louisville, Kentucky, is the world’s most popular chicken restaurant chain, specialising and famous for its Original Recipe®. The secret recipe of 11 herbs and spices was first developed in 1940 and the same recipe is still used across the world today.
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