The country’s leading supermarket chain, TM Pick n Pay, came to the aid of needy homes with over $4,3 million worth of food delivered to charities in various communities countrywide this past winter.
Known as the Winter Food Drive, the retailer, in partnership with suppliers and customers, mobilized grocery and food items that were delivered to various homes and care facilities to assist in the winter season, classically known to be when the more vulnerable in our society need it most.
TM Pick n Pay Managing Director, Malcolm Mycroft, speaking on the initiative that was started in 2019, said that their commitment to provide real value always was not limited to those that enter their stores on a daily basis, but extended beyond that, through living the African ‘values’ on a daily basis as well.
“One of the things that makes us uniquely African is Ubuntu, and realizing that we can only be, if we all are. It keeps us grounded, knowing that we have only played our part when we have made people’s lives better,” he said.
“Our ethos is ‘Doing good is good business’ and the Winter Food Drive is a small part of our commitment to this corporate mantra.”
“We realized that a lot of charities in our communities were in dire need of food assistance because the donor assistance they relied on had been cut off due to the pandemic and we opted to, in our own way, do what we could, and so the Winter Food Drive was born.”
The retailer identified homes in need of assistance in the communities it operates, with 26 such care homes having benefitted nationwide and 1600 people assisted so far.
“We are committed to seeing the programme continue as a commitment to the communities in which we operate, all while growing the initiative to assist more people and more homes,” Malcolm Mycroft concluded.
