The V&A Waterfront's partnership with Ladles of Love

In a life changing experience, Danny met a homeless man and offered him soup. When the man thanked him, Danny realised the power of a simple gesture of goodwill. He also learnt how a small act of goodwill can restore dignity to human life.

Danny is personally driven by a Sanskrit word seva, meaning to give of yourself and wanting nothing in return. This guides the ethos of Ladles of Love daily, where they provide fresh and nutritious food for the homeless.

When we were approached by Ladles of Love they were feeding over 250 homeless people bi-weekly, providing them with warm, hearty nutritional soup and bread that was made with love. Since then, Ladles of Love has grown tremendously – providing well over 19 million meals.

The V&A Waterfront’s partnership with Ladles of Love started in 2019 when we were approached by a vibrant and passionate lady, Margolite Williams, who was inspired by the wonderful work the charity organisation was doing in various communities in and around Cape Town.

After we were enthusiastically introduce to Ladles of Love by Margolite, our partnership with the charity began.

Henry Mathys, the Senior Manager for Social Impact, describes this as the perfect partnership which speaks into the Waterfront’s shared values approach. “Part of our shared value strategy is that whatever we do to support an organisation like Ladles of Love, we consider long term sustainability, a responsible approach to preserving our environment and to carefully consider the cost and impact on our society”, says Henry.

Collectively, we have contributed over R200 000 in donations through a variety of campaigns and initiatives.

Our partnership with Ladles of Love falls within a broad range of CSI initiatives, where we are constantly looking at different ways to uplift our society through food security.

For Mandela Day, through our Heart of Filling the Belly initiative, the V&A partnered with Ladles of Love to break the World Record for building the longest line of cans received through donations from the public. The event originally scheduled on 18 July 2021, Mandela Day will now take place on Sunday, 29 August 2021 with strict Covid safety precautions in place.

With the current Canadian-held record at 3.28km for 44 966 cans, our target is 90 000 cans measuring 6.7kms long.

Ladles of Love is still in need of 25 000 cans to break the world record. All cans such as  lentils, beans, fish, soups, and vegetables would be appreciated. Cans can be dropped off at any Ladles of Love depo on www.ladlesoflove.org.za or at Makers Landing at the V&A Waterfront

Together with Ladles of Love, we encourage the public to come out on the 29th August and volunteer their time to help raise the food cans needed to not only break the Guinness World Record but break hunger around the peninsula.

Anyone can volunteer for 67 minutes between 9am – 5pm. Starting at Nobel Square, we will have 67 checkpoints, one every 100 meters where we need 2 people an hour to assist. That means we will need 1072 volunteers on the day.

To find out how to volunteer, check out the schedule on www.webtickets.co.za to see which time slot will suite you. You can also email Ladles of Love on info@ladlesoflove.org.za to find out how to register for your slot.

Together with Ladles of Love we are committed to extend a helping hand by building a caring neighbourhood for those in and around it.

Event Details:

DATE: 29 August 2021

TIME: 9h00-17h00

VENUE: Nobel Square, V&A Waterfront

COST: Tickets start at R100, www.webtickets.co.za