Supporting Nutrition
In Missionvale, nutrition is life. It is the single most critical need in the community and the most challenging fundraising endeavor for the Missionvale Care Center.
This nutrition program is vitally important as it provides the basic substances that people need on a daily basis. Without proper nutrition, a person cannot take the necessary medication they may need to take to improve their health and children cannot focus on their schoolwork fighting hunger pains.
The food provided to the people by the Missionvale Care Center is not a hand-out though. To receive food from the Nutrition Unit, people must participate in a recycling program by bringing empty tins to be recycled. This serves three purposes:
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It honors the dignity and fosters self-respect for each person receiving food as they are doing something for it.
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It promotes people participating in cleaning up their community and less garbage is created.
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The Care Center receives a small amount of money from the recycling company to help pay for some of the bread and soup powder each day.
Nutrition at Missionvale
The Care Center provides nurtirion to the community in a variety of ways
Daily Bread & Soup Powder
Every day, up to 1,000 of Missionvale’s most vulnerable, sick, and heads of family bring recyclable tins in exchange for a half loaf of bread and a cup of fortified soup powder to take home to their family.
Too often, there are more people in line than there is bread and soup and some must go without for the day. This service is available to anyone who needs it.
Weekly Food Parcels
The Nutrition Unit also distributes weekly food parcels to those families identified as in the greatest need. A food parcel provides additional items of sustenance for a family including sugar, tea, rice, pilchards, baked beans, body soap, and dish soap.
Approximately 700 food parcels are given out each week.
Care Giver Home Visits
Every day, 20 trained and certified Caregivers of the Missionvale Care Center make an average of 30 home visits to those in need. Before they set out into the community, they stop by the Nutrition Unit to collect bread, soup, and any meat or vegetables that may be available to take to their patients.
Porridge at School
Each school day, nearly 300 students attending the Normoyle Primary School receive a warm cup of porridge before lessons begin.
Too often, this is the only food the children have had since the simple sandwich they are provided at school at lunchtime.
Sandwich at School
In addition to the cup of warm morning porridge, each of the nearly 300 students attending Normoyle Primary School is given a simple sandwich at noon for lunch.
The sandwich may consist of pilchards (fish) on good days when the Care Center has them, or just peanut butter when nothing more substantial is available.
Community Gardens
The Community Gardens provide a wonderful opportunity for people of Missionvale to learn a new skill while producing a variety of vegetables. The gardeners are provided with their own garden plot, seeds, fertilizer, and the necessary tools and water to maintain the garden.
They tend to their seasonal vegetables which may include corn, carrots, cabbage, spinach, onions, tomatoes and much more. Half of the harvest the gardeners keep, while the other half goes to the Care Center’s Nutrition Unit to supplement daily bread and soup for as long as possible.
For a one-time contribution of $35, you could provide 10 families with a food parcel and ensure they have some basic nutrition to sustain them for one week.
For a one-time contribution of $100, you could give one family the gift of a weekly food parcel for six months. A one-time contribution of $200 would provide the family a weekly food parcel for an entire year.
For a one-time contribution of $300, you could provide 700 families with a serving of bread and soup powder.
For a recurring monthly donation of $25, you could provide a family with food for an entire month. The family will receive daily bread and soup powder as well as a weekly food parcel.