Fill a Bag. Feed a Family.
R200 fills one bag. One bag gives a family of four ten meals. Every month, our team packs and delivers around 42 bags to families in Masoyi, Pulanala, Kabokweni and to parishioners here in White River.
Ten Meals, Four People, One Bag
What a Bag Holds
Every bag is packed to a list drawn up by a nutritionist — non-perishable staples chosen to give a family of four basic nutrition across ten meals. Nothing decorative, nothing that spoils.
- 2.5 kg white maize meal
- 2 × 1 kg samp
- 1 kg brown speckled beans
- 500 g white kidney beans
- 410 g peanut butter
- 410 g fat-free powdered milk
- 200 g savoury soya mince
- 1 kg sugar
- 500 g salt (added every three months)
Contents vary a little from month to month depending on what we can source and what has been donated.
Cost to fill one bag: R200
Get Involved
Three Ways to Take Part
Sponsor a Bag
R200 covers one bag in full. R600 covers a family for three months. R2,400 keeps one family fed for a year. Give once or set up a monthly debit order.
Donate the Goods
If you would rather shop than transfer, bring any item from the list to the parish office. Maize meal, samp and beans go furthest.
Pack With Us
The team packs and distributes once a month. If you can give a morning, we would be glad of the hands.
Our Approach
Delivered by Hand, to People We Know
Bags go to Masoyi, Pulanala, Kabokweni and to parishioners in need. We deliver them ourselves rather than handing them out at the gate, because the point is that they reach the households they were packed for. Making sure the bags go to the very poor, and that the system is not abused, is the part of this work we take most seriously.
We know we are scratching the surface of a much larger need. That is the honest position, and it is why the project keeps going.
1992
From Pennsylvania to White River
In 1992, Professor Gerald Pillay and his wife Nirri visited a Mennonite community in Pennsylvania. One of the community's projects was simple: keep empty bags ready, so that when a crisis hit, they could be filled with food at once.
Gerald and Nirri, then parishioners at St Martin-in-the-Fields in Irene, Centurion, believed the idea could work in South Africa. Dr Dick Brombacher of Irene asked a nutritionist to draw up the list of non-perishable items that still fills every bag today.
The project has since spread to parishes across the country. St George's runs it here in White River as part of the Jesus Cares Ministry.
Contact
Support Fill-a-Bag Feed-a-Family
Parish Office
Banking Details
Cash donations are made to the Jesus Cares Ministry account at FNB White River. Contact the parish office for the account details.
St George's will never email you to advise a change of banking details. If you receive such a message, phone the parish office on 079 343 5626 before paying anything.