FoodForward SA Expands Food Gardens Connect Programme With Starbucks Foundation Support

The Starbucks Foundation's grant, equivalent to roughly R166,000, is helping to expand FoodForward SA's Food Gardens Connect Programme. Image supplied.

The Global Community Impact Grants programme invites licensees to nominate local nonprofit organisations in their community.

This round of grant recipients was selected from more than 100 nominated local nonprofit organisations across 50 markets worldwide.

Expanding programme

FoodForward SA's Food Gardens Connect programme teaches unemployed people to grow food, supplies equipment and seedlings, provides hands-on mentoring, and guarantees harvest buy-back, creating stable income and greater resilience for underserved communities.

“Food Gardens Connect is showing incredible progress. Seeing lives transformed and communities empowered reminds us that meaningful change is only possible through collective action,” said Andy du Plessis, FoodForward SA managing director, who thanked the Starbucks Foundation for helping to expand the programme.

“This grant has enabled the expansion of the Food Gardens Connect programme to five new beneficiary organisations, with an estimated 800 people who may benefit,” he added.

Community impact

The Starbucks Foundation's Global Community Impact Grants programme supports nonprofit organisations driving programmes that create meaningful local or regional impact, expanding on the company's ambition to contribute positively to our communities.

This programme builds on other initiatives of The Starbucks Foundation, including Neighbourhood Grants, Origin Grants, and Disaster Response Grants, which focus on enabling community resiliency and prosperity and uplifting communities affected by disaster.

Since the programme launch in 2022, the Starbucks Foundation and licensee partners have awarded more than $14m in Global Community Impact Grants to more than 200 nonprofit organisations across more than 60 markets.