Inspired by Tom Moore, the British army veteran who raised £39m for charity in the United Kingdom, 91-year-old business titan Solly Krok has committed to raise R108m from international and local communities to help feed vulnerable people in South Africa
Coinciding with his 91st birthday this week, Krok has announced his new venture, called Keep the Wolf from the Door, as he embarks on a mission to raise funds to address hunger and food insecurity. To achieve this, Krok has partnered with social impact organisations, Afrika Tikkun and Siyakhana.
Symbolic walk
Krok will be doing a symbolic walk in his Johannesburg suburb to complete 91km in total by Thursday, 4 June 2020. Having started in May, Solly’s aim is to have walked 1km for every year of his age by this date.
On 4 June, business leaders will join Krok as he completes this milestone, including Marc Lubner of Afrika Tikkun and Professor Michael Rudolph, representing the Siyakhana Initiative and University of Johannesburg (UJ) – social distancing maintained. Discussions between Krok and his guests will be themed around education, business and mentoring and will be streamed live on Facebook.
Increased poverty
Seeing the devastation that the Covid-19 pandemic is causing in South Africa, Krok decided he had to do something. “It’s of great concern for me to see the increased poverty that has mushroomed overnight as people are not able to work or support their families. The sad thing is that before the pandemic, a large portion of the South African population was already poor and, sadly, even after the pandemic is quelled by the discovery of a vaccine and medication, the poor will still be poor,” said Krok.
“I am determined to make a long-term difference by coupling our programme with sustainable food banks,” he added.
Food parcels, primarily to support children and the elderly, will be provided with the initial funds raised. A systematic approach to addressing poverty and hunger in poor households and marginalised communities will be developed with community participation. Krok believes that these interventions should be done with a strong sense of unity and collaboration and quotes the words of the three musketeers, “One for all and all for one.”
For more information, go to www.keepthewolffromthedoor.org.
