Ladles of Love is about more than merely providing meals.
It’s about dignity, respect, and creating the kind of world we all want to live in.
Nourishing the body
Feeding the soul
Uplifting the community
Nourishing the body
Feeding the soul
Uplifting the community
Ladles of Love is about more than merely providing meals.
It’s about dignity, respect, and creating the kind of world we all want to live in.
From 70 to 200 000+ meals served per week in only 9 years
From 70 to 200 000+ meals served per week in only 9 years
From 70 to 200 000+ meals served per week in only 9 years
Our Why
To help people thrive physically, emotionally, spiritually and sustainably.
What We Do
We provide nutritious and wholesome food available to all.
We support our farmers grow natural wholesome food in an economical and sustainable way.
We empower food entrepreneurs to grow businesses that create jobs and adds to the economy of our country.
How?
With love, dignity and respect.
Mission Statement
To help people thrive physically, emotionally, spiritually and sustainably with love, dignity and respect.
To provide nutritious and wholesome food available to all.
To support our farmers grow natural wholesome food in an economical and sustainable way.
To empower food entrepreneurs to grow businesses that create jobs and adds to the economy of our country.
Our Story
The story of our charity organisation started when Danny Diliberto our founder, participated in an Art of Living Foundation course that encouraged participants to give back to society.
Being a Cape Town restaurateur, Danny decided to make use of his restaurant kitchen and cook up a fresh pot of soup to hand bowls out to homeless people in the city. While walking down the street in he encountered a homeless man, wrapped in an old duvet, who was shouting and swearing at the world out of frustration and despair.
Danny offered him soup and instantly recognised the immense power of this simple gesture. The man accepted the soup, then stopped shouting and looked Danny in the eyes thanking him, before calmly continuing on his way. This was a life-changing moment for Danny, as he realised in that moment that food has the power to touch lives with love, dignity and respect.
In 2014, Ladles of Love began with one soup kitchen in the Cape Town city centre.
The first soup kitchen was formalised in 2014 when a small team of volunteers came together to serve 70 hot meals and 10 years later, it is still operational. Growing exponentially to provide food relief during the Covid pandemic today we serve nearly a million meals a month to vulnerable people, mostly children in the Western Cape, Northern Cape and Gauteng.
Growing our impact
Whilst our charity efforts started in Cape Town city centre by 2021 we had expanded to open warehouses in both Western Cape and Gauteng providing food relief to over 200 beneficiary organisations.
The growing unemployment in South Africa has meant the lines for food in impoverished communities we serve, are getting longer. Miraculously, women have self-organised setting up local soup kitchens that enable us to feed tens of thousands of people in need.
A bowl of soup may not sound like much, but it’s a lifeline to some. And when people come together, incredible things happen.
Ladles of Love has grown from serving 70 meals at our very first soup kitchen to one of the most prolific food charity organisations in South Africa. Today, we provide food relief to community kitchens, schools, early childhood centres and shelters with much-needed bulk non-perishables and fresh produce, allowing them to touch the lives of the vulnerable who need food now more than ever.
Innovative, adaptable
and solution-driven
Understanding the need to not only provide food relief but take a long-term view we set up a food security division to tackle sustainability and find ways to uplift the community and enable people to feed their own families with dignity. We strategised, conceptualised and developed two programmes: Feed the Soil and Realise A Dream.
Feed the Soil encourages householders and the hospitality industry to collect their food waste and pay Ladles of Love to convert it to compost, which we donate to Urban Farmers to enrich their soil. Supporting the farmers, we procure their fresh produce and provide them a route to market.
Realise A Dream enables and empowers food Entrepreneurs and Agripreneurs to grow their food enterprises by providing skills development, training and CAPEX with a view to securing food and creating jobs.
Socio-economic investment in our programmes instils hope and touches lives with love, dignity and respect.
We fundraise and dependent on donations, procure between 25 – 50 tons of fresh produce and non-perishable foods weekly for our food relief programmes.
By working together, we can do more, reach further, and uplift communities to support themselves.
0
17
of SA lacks food security
0
7,800,000
South Africans experience hunger
0
3,700,000
households are affected
*Statistics updated May 2023
A community where everyone benefits
Our volunteers experience love and joy through the preparation of each sandwich and the serving of each meal. It’s about more than feeding the hungry. It’s about breaking down the social barriers that exist between us, and connecting people regardless of their gender, colour, religion, or social status. We’re building the nation we know we can be.
What we do is about so much more than a soup kitchen or a Sandwich Drive only. We want to help people to help themselves, which is why we’ve created a support network that helps to establish and support community kitchens and other NPOs. By building this network, we can empower more people to get involved, enable communities to become self-sustainable, and inspire volunteers to make the difference we all want to see in our country.
”We refer to our work as Seva – a beautiful Sanskrit word that refers to the art of selfless service. However, it’s more than a desire to help others without wanting anything in return. It’s a genuine desire to uplift those around you.
Together, we can do anything
Our efforts are powered by love – what we call Love Activism. Some come for one soup kitchen or Sandwich Making session, while others return regularly. Others volunteer their skills in different ways, such as driving, sandwich making, fundraising initiatives, photography, videography, and logistics.
We’ve quickly become one of the most well-known volunteer organisations and we encourage anyone and everyone to volunteer with us at least once. Although volunteering is an incredibly humbling, it’s also full of love, joy and companionship. It fills your heart and feeds your soul.
”It started with one thought, one pot, one person and now it’s a huge movement.
I just want to thank you for Ladles of Love and all the special people it’s brought into my life! Because of you we are able to connect in ways that bring such joy and purpose and I’m so grateful for you!Ladles of Love volunteer
Who we help
Currently, we support more than 200 beneficiary organisations using a network mostly women-led community soup kitchens and early childhood development centres in impoverished communities. We provide nutrient rich food and produce weekly to serve lunch to 20,000 vulnerable people from our network of soup kitchen and two meals a day to over 4,000 children at ECD Centres.
Equipping kitchens to nourish children in Educare Centres.
Where grants permit we assist is setting up Early Childhood Development Centres with equipped kitchens to prepare the children’s daily meals. This includes all the necessary equipment, such as gas burners, large pots, cutting boards, knives, the a diet plan with training manual and all cleaning equipment.
