Our history goes back to 1945, when the late Bishop Trevor Huddleston started soup kitchens in winter for hungry children in Alexandra and Soweto.

Five years later, the first permanent feeding centre was established and the scheme was feeding 4000 children daily.

Early on ACFS rejected the idea of handouts. We believed that the problem was caused by poverty and lack of knowledge – and the focus of the scheme turned to health education and programmes designed to help poverty-stricken people become economically independent.

Special tribute must be paid to the thousands of supporters – ordinary members of the public as well as influential businessmen and women – who have embraced these values and provided the funds that have sustained the organisation over the years.

Together, we have improved the quality of life for so many people, and helped to combat the scourge of malnutrition, poverty and HIV/AIDS.

The needs of the communities we serve have increased significantly in recent years; firstly, as a result of the scourge of HIV and AIDS which has left many families without breadwinners and – more recently – the global economic recession which has led to the loss of some 35 000 jobs nation wide every month.

Against this background, the African Children's Feeding Scheme works tirelessly to improve the quality of life for those hardest hit – in particular orphans and vulnerable children, child-headed households and those in the care of elderly grandmothers.

We operate throughout Soweto, Kagiso, Tshepisong in the West Rand, Alexandra, Thembisa, Kwa-Thema and Tsakane in the East Rand.