The Lunchbox Fund is a non-profit organization providing a daily meal for orphaned and vulnerable school children in township and rural areas of South Africa. The organization was founded by South African model Topaz Page-Green.
Often their only guaranteed meal of a day, the meals are delivered at school. It encourages children to stay in school, attend more frequently, and obtain their education. When a child stays in school, his or her risk of HIV infection, abuse and unwanted pregnancies is greatly reduced. Twelve million South African children need feeding. The government feeding program reaches 8 million. The Lunchbox Fund's aim is to feed the rest.
65% of South African children live below the poverty line
19.6% of South African children are orphans, mainly as a result of the HIV/AIDS epidemic
Unemployment is a severe problem
Parents and caregivers are unable to feed their children or provide access to basic health care
Hunger diminishes concentration and erodes willpower, stripping away the potential greatness of a child
$0.25/R2.50 feeds one child one meal for one day
The Lunchbox Fund identifies schools, or forms partnerships with locally based, in-community NGOs or community organizations in order to identify and evaluate schools.
They then fund distributors or the Community Partner to buy and deliver food, monitor the feeding scheme, implement a Project Manager and deliver reports to the Fund. This allows for a
sustained Lunchbox Fund community presence and constant ‘in situ’ evaluation. The Fund's principals pay quarterly site visits to all schools involved in the Feeding Program.
Fundraising
Every year The Fund hosts a Live Auction Fundraising Event to raise the organisation's core-operating funds. By covering these costs in their totality, 100% of any donations, funding or grants made to The Lunchbox fund - translate directly into meals for school children.[1]
Fundraising Events have included:
2013: The Lunchbox Fund's Fall Fête and Feedie Launch co-chaired by Maggie Gyllenhaal, Liv Tyler and Mario Batali featured a music performance by Grammy Nominated Emily King, as well as an auction of artwork created for the evening by notable artists including Chuck Close, Tara Donovan, Donald Baechler, Jim Dine, Michael Stipe, Shepard Fairey, Curtis Kulig, Dustin Yellin, Oliver Clegg, Mick Rock, Lou Reed, Bob Gruen, Alan Cumming, Tim Furzer, Martin Puryear, Isca Greenfield Sanders, Danny Clinch, Harif Guzman, Gianfranco Gorgoni, James Sienna, Kiki Smith, and more. The auction broke the Charity's record to date.[citation needed]
^"The Lunchbox Fund". Archived from the original on November 19, 2020. Retrieved November 20, 2020. 100% of Lunchbox Fund's operational costs are covered by donations and grants made for that purpose. This way, we can assure corporate funders, grantors and donors that every cent donated goes to providing a hot daily meal at school for a child.
