Started by staff and pupils of Savio College in Lansdowne in 1968, Blisters for Bread has grown from strength to strength since being handed over to the Peninsula School Feeding Association (PSFA) to manage, and has become a highlight on the Cape Town events calendar.
The annual Blisters for Bread fun run raises funds to support the PSFA in their work, who rely on donations and external funding in order to support their work. Every cent raised in this massive Mother City event will go towards feeding children. “The entry fee of R50 will feed 20 children per day, none of it is used for administration or other costs,” says fund raising manager for PSFA, Charles Grey. ” The ‘Blisters for Bread’ event has quiet an ironic name seeing that we not serve bread, but this event is a “staple” in our fundraising efforts,” he quips.
The start of the third quarter of the 2017 school year will see over 300 000 kids fed by the Peninsula School Feeding Association not eating bread. Instead, leaners from the ages of six months to 19 years will enjoy a menu of mealie-meal for breakfast and a warm plate of food for lunch every school day.
With the PSFA feeding school children in the Western Cape for almost 60 years, their menu has changed over time, and does not include bread.
“When first established, the PSFA’s daily meal was soup and a slice of bread, sometimes with jam and peanut butter. This provided only about 15% of a child’s energy requirements and very little of the daily protein and nutrients needed,’ says Laura Berry, a dietician who has worked with the PSFA.
Today, the PSFA school feeding menu includes more than 10 different food items every week. This includes proteins such as soy, omega 3-rich fish and beans, with carbohydrates like samp and rice. Fruit and vegetables such as carrots, cabbages, fresh oranges and apples are served daily. The cost of the daily meal is R2.50 per child per day.
The annual Blisters for Bread fun run will be taking place at the Green Point Stadium on 27 August 2017, with guests like Kinetic IV, Lakota Silva, Miss South Africa and more attending. Do good and have fun with this amazing initiative this winter! For more information, check out the PSFA website.
Photography Courtesy