World Sandwich Day (Friday 3 November 2023) the annual Ladles of Love Sarmiethon in Cape Town and Johannesburg delivered a whopping 74 760 sandwiches to children in need.
This brings the total number of sandwiches distributed by Ladles of Love to over 5,5 million since the pandemic. Backed by key sponsors Coronation Fund Managers and Anchor Yeast, the Sarmiethon this year united corporate teams and the public around the raising funds, donating sandwich ingredients and bringing together many willing hands to reach the ambitious 90 000 sandwiches goal.
This year’s vibey and fun Sarmiethon Challenge took place at Maker’s Landing at Cape Town’s V&A Waterfront, and at AtEds in Houghton, Johannesburg.
Ladles of Love raised funds at R10 a sandwich via the www.ladlesoflove.org.za online store. The public is invited to continue donating. Each donation helps Ladles of Love to feed a child in need two meals a day – extending the impact beyond just World Sandwich Day.
A big spirit of giving
Companies were invited to enter teams of 10 and make as many sarmies as possible with bread sponsored by Blue Ribbon, and jam from Rhodes Quality, ensuring that every cent raised from the donation fee goes to making an impact. The following prizes were awarded to the participating teams:
Sarmiethon Championship: The award for most sandwiches made in the allocated time in each city goes to:
- Blue Ribbon’s team in Cape Town
- Holla in Joburg
Sarmiethon Best Dressed: The award for best dressed team in the spirit of doing good goes to:
- The V&A Waterfront’s team in Cape Town
- SBA in Joburg
Sarmiethon Most ‘Gees’: The team who exuded the most gees in the spirit of ubuntu, was:
- SBA in Cape Town
- Bureau Veritas in Joburg
Why Coronation supports Sarmiethon as the lead sponsor every year
Coronation Group Head of Marketing Wisahl Ganief said the well-known fund manager supported the annual Sarmiethon again because of the positive impact that the initiative makes in terms of hunger-relief in disadvantaged communities. Coronation is a long-time partner of Ladles of Love and is deeply invested in food security as a national issue.
“The reality is that an estimated 30 million people in South Africa are food insecure and unfortunately an estimated 2.5 million adults and 600 000 children in South Africa are truly hungry every day. This is made worse by the tough economy. We must do what we can to help.”
Ganief said Coronation Fund Managers and its staff were honoured to support the cause through volunteering and donating. “Hunger is an issue with many knock-on effects. We care about education, and children can’t learn when they are hungry. People can’t reach their potential when they are perpetually hungry.”
Danny Diliberto, founder and managing director of Ladles of Love, said: “With the high rate of unemployment and poverty in our country, food security is a major problem in our country we cannot deny – a challenge we all need to take care of. Our Sarmiethon brings people together to care for those that don’t have access to food. Together we made 75 000 sandwiches. Together we created 75 000 smiles.”
“We thank everyone who supported the cause this year. We can’t wait to see the smiles on thousands of children’s faces when we distribute the sandwiches later today and over the weekend to communities in the Cape Peninsula, Overstrand and Gauteng.”
