Dear Family, Friends and Faithful Supporters,
Thank you all so very much for your prayers, kind words, and financial support. With help from each of you the lives of thousands of Nairobi's poorest children are a little brighter.
You'll notice a new look to our newsletter. Our projects are simply getting too big to report in detail in a single, meaningful newsletter format. So, we've streamlined it to provide highlights with a "read more" button for topics if you want more detail. Let us know what you think!
New Name
In June our application was finally approved as a not-for-profit organization in the country of Kenya. We will continue to be known in the U.S. as Midwest Food Bank East Africa Division, but in Kenya we are now Kapu Africa…in Swahili, Africa's collection basket. Legal status opens opportunities that were previously denied!
Tender Mercies Kenya and Sponsor-A-Meal Program
Soy Afric, our Nairobi-based packaging partner, produced the first Tender Mercies Kenya samples in July, and began full-scale production in September with an initial order of about 11,000 pounds. Tender Mercies Kenya is a highly nutritious and ready-to-cook meal product, made solely from Kenyan / East African ingredients. To read more about TMK and how you can participate in our new Sponsor-A-Meal Program, click HERE.
Crocodile Meat Plant
Our meat processing building is ready, but the crocodiles have not matured as quickly as expected…so we've yet to make our first meat delivery, which is now projected in early 2016. Our commitment has been to fund the building, equipment and operations strictly with funds earmarked for this project, and we still need help to finish equipping the building. To read more about the building project and latest timetable, click HERE.
New Farm Project
Since our last newsletter, we've become aware of an opportunity for a longterm lease on irrigated farm land which would enable us to grow our own soybeans, cowpeas, and lentils…the basic ingredients of Tender Mercies Kenya. This is an exciting opportunity for us to partner with the Kenyan Government to help address their nation's goal of Food Security by 2030. To read more, click HERE.
General Operations
Kapu Africa continues to be blessed with food donations from Nairobi-based manufacturers and distributors. Our role is to pick up surpluses, and deliver those to the slum schools we serve. Estimated market value of 2015 food donations through September is nearly $98,000. This is the more typical Food Bank operation and we continue to focus on adding Nairobi-based food donors. We currently provide $5 of food for every $1 we spend. So far we are able to deliver what we're given on the same day we receive it, so we don't need a warehouse...yet. Our dream is to have so much locally-donated food coming in that we need a warehouse to store it and a loadout process to distribute it…just like the US-based divisions!
Take care and God Bless.
Denny Mott
Director, Midwest Food Bank East Africa Division
