Feed Hungry Children Through Social Media

Social Feedia                                                                      

The Peninsula School Feeding Association (PSFA) and the digital agency, HelloComputer have teamed up to bring the Social Feed Initiative to South Africa. With this venture the two organisations hope to bring meals to hungry children through sharing content on Facebook and Twitter.

It sounds a bit too good to be true, doesn't it? We share countless things every day. I've shared a fair few videos over the past hour. I've also shared a few articles with friends as well. (And a picture of a fat pug) If each of those shares helps being food to those children who need it I think we can resoundingly agree that they’re onto a winner with this initiative.

The PSFA have spent over 55 years trying to help hungry children and so, they were thrilled when HelloComputer approached them with this simple idea for taking advantage of social media.

The process is nice and easy. Brands buy media on Social Feed and then they publish content that they want shared. Then, each time that content is shared it pays for a meal for a hungry child. With celebrities already being paid upwards of $10,000 (£6,400) per tweet, I really think that the Social Feed Initiative is a more worthy cause. Let’s put food in hungry children’s hands. I'm sure Charlie Sheen and the Kardashian’s really don’t need all that cash. How many iPhones can you buy, anyway?

Creative Director, Camilla Clerke, explained: “We all spend so much time sharing content on our Social Media channels, like foodie pictures, ads, competitions, and grumpy cats. And brands spend a lot of money with big media houses hoping we’ll share their content. But what if we shared something that could actually make change happen? And what if brands bought media that could make a real difference – like feeding thousands of hungry school kids warm, nutritious meals every single day.”

While South Africa produces sufficient food for its nation, prices of food have been skyrocketing leaving hundreds of millions chronically malnourished. Food Bank SA spokesman Keri Uys said that: "South Africa is in dire straights. The entire country is affected. It is not just rural areas. Every day millions of people go to be bed hungry. There are children whose daily food is half a white-bread sandwich. How can you bring up a nation on this?"

According to the UN Food and Agricultural Organisation, out of the 870 million malnourished people worldwide, 234 million are living in sub Saharan Africa. The Social Feed initiative hopes to help all the children caught up in that huge figure and so far, some of South Africa’s biggest brands are already apart of the initiative and are already putting food into hungry tummies.

This is a win/win situation. The brands are getting the exposure they want. They’re getting good PR for being a part of the initiative as well. Lastly and most importantly, hungry children are getting the food and nutrition they need.  

If Social Feed is properly embraced and is successful, it sets the trend for other countries to start their own initiatives as well.

So come on, South Africa. Get sharing. Show us how it’s done. 

Tom Welby

Tom has just graduated from University of East London in Creative and Professional Writing. He loves writing and is currently interning as content writer hoping to go further. His other loves include Arnold Schwarzenegger films and his dog. Follow him @TomAtSMF

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