The Lunchbox Fund is a non-profit organization providing a daily meal for orphaned and vulnerable school children in township and rural areas of

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

. The organization was founded by South African model

Topaz Page-Green Topaz Page-Green is a fashion model and the founder and president of the non-profit corporation The Lunchbox Fund. Early life and education Topaz Page-Green was born in 1979 and raised near Johannesburg, South Africa. Her father and mother were ...

. The Board of Directors include

Joaquin Phoenix Joaquin Rafael Phoenix (; né Bottom; born October 28, 1974) is an American actor. He is known for playing dark and unconventional characters in independent films. He has received various accolades, including an Academy Award, a British Academ ...

and

Rain Phoenix Rain Joan of Arc Phoenix ( Bottom; born November 21, 1972) is an American actress, musician, and singer. She is the older sister of Joaquin, Liberty and Summer Phoenix and younger sister of River Phoenix. Early life Phoenix was born Rain Joan ...

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Balthazar Getty Paul Balthazar Getty (; born January 22, 1975) is an American actor and musician. His acting debut was in ''Lord of the Flies'' (1990) as Ralph. He went on to appear in '' Lost Highway'' (1997) and had a recurring role as Richard Montana in ''Cha ...

Francois Pienaar Jacobus Francois Pienaar (born 2 January 1967) is a retired South African rugby union player. He played flanker for South Africa (the Springboks) from 1993 until 1996, winning 29 international caps, all of them as captain. He is best known fo ...

, Felicia Mabuza-Suttle and

Hugh Masekela Hugh Ramapolo Masekela (4 April 1939 – 23 January 2018) was a South African trumpeter, flugelhornist, cornetist, singer and composer who was described as "the father of South African jazz". Masekela was known for his jazz compositions and for ...

serve on the advisory board. A number of ambassadors and local volunteers work full- and part-time with the fund in South Africa.

Organization

Often their only guaranteed meal of a day, the meals are delivered at school. It encourages children to stay in school, attend more frequently, and obtain their education. When a child stays in school, his or her risk of HIV infection, abuse and unwanted pregnancies is greatly reduced. Twelve million South African children need feeding. The government feeding program reaches 8 million. The Lunchbox Fund's aim is to feed the rest. * 65% of South African children live below the poverty line * 19.6% of South African children are orphans, mainly as a result of the HIV/AIDS epidemic * Unemployment is a severe problem * Parents and caregivers are unable to feed their children or provide access to basic health care * Hunger diminishes concentration and erodes willpower, stripping away the potential greatness of a child * $0.25/R2.50 feeds one child one meal for one day The Lunchbox Fund identifies schools, or forms partnerships with locally based, in-community NGOs or community organizations in order to identify and evaluate schools. They then fund distributors or the Community Partner to buy and deliver food, monitor the feeding scheme, implement a Project Manager and deliver reports to the Fund. This allows for a sustained Lunchbox Fund community presence and constant ‘in situ’ evaluation. The Fund's principals pay quarterly site visits to all schools involved in the Feeding Program.

Fundraising

Every year The Fund hosts a Live Auction Fundraising Event to raise the organisation's core-operating funds. By covering these costs in their totality, 100% of any donations, funding or grants made to The Lunchbox fund - translate directly into meals for school children. Fundraising Events have included: 2013: The Lunchbox Fund's Fall Fête and Feedie Launch co-chaired by Maggie Gyllenhaal, Liv Tyler and Mario Batali featured a music performance by Grammy Nominated Emily King, as well as an auction of artwork created for the evening by notable artists including Chuck Close, Tara Donovan, Donald Baechler, Jim Dine, Michael Stipe, Shepard Fairey, Curtis Kulig, Dustin Yellin, Oliver Clegg, Mick Rock, Lou Reed, Bob Gruen, Alan Cumming, Tim Furzer, Martin Puryear, Isca Greenfield Sanders, Danny Clinch, Harif Guzman, Gianfranco Gorgoni, James Sienna, Kiki Smith, and more. The auction broke the Charity's record to date. 2012: The Lunchbox Fund Bookfair. One of a kind handmade art books created by

Sir Ben Kingsley Sir Ben Kingsley (born Krishna Pandit Bhanji; 31 December 1943) is an English actor. He has received various accolades throughout his career spanning five decades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, a Grammy Award, and two ...

Chuck Close Charles Thomas Close (July 5, 1940 – August 19, 2021) was an American painter, visual artist, and photographer who made massive-scale photorealist and abstract portraits of himself and others. Close also created photo portraits using a very l ...

, Deepak Chopra,

Archbishop Desmond Tutu Desmond Mpilo Tutu (7 October 193126 December 2021) was a South African Anglican bishop and theologian, known for his work as an anti-apartheid and human rights activist. He was Bishop of Johannesburg from 1985 to 1986 and then Archbisho ...

with South African artist

Paul Du Toit Paul Johan du Toit (31 October 1965 – 9 January 2014) was a South African artist, working in painting, sculpture, paper and mixed media. His exhibits have been displayed globally. Most notably, three of his sculptures were selected for th ...

Mario Batali Mario Francesco Batali (born September 19, 1960) is an American chef, writer, and restaurateur. Batali co-owned restaurants in New York City; Las Vegas; Los Angeles; and Newport Beach, California; Boston; Singapore; Westport, Connecticut; and ...

with

Jim Dine Jim Dine (born June 16, 1935 in Cincinnati, Ohio) is an American artist whose œuvre extends over sixty years. Dine’s work includes painting, drawing, printmaking (in many forms including lithographs, etchings, gravure, intaglio, woodcuts, l ...

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and Kelsey Bennett, rock photographer

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with

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, Philip Glass,

with Francisco Clemente,

Mick Rock Michael David Rock (born Michael Edward Chester Smith; 21 November 1948 – 18 November 2021) was a British photographer. He photographed rock music acts such as Queen, David Bowie, Waylon Jennings, T. Rex, Syd Barrett, Lou Reed, Iggy Pop ...

Shepard Fairey Frank Shepard Fairey (born February 15, 1970) is an American contemporary artist, activist and founder of OBEY Clothing who emerged from the skateboarding scene. In 1989 he designed the "Andre the Giant Has a Posse" (...OBEY...) sticker campai ...

, and Sting. 2005 - 2011: The Lunchbox AuctionsThe Lunchbox Auctions art
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Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...

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, Beastie Boys,

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, John Mayer, Jimmy Fallon,

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, Iman,

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, Beyoncé, Bono,

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, Maggie Gyllenhaal,

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, Diane von Fürstenberg, Zac Posen,

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, Elliot Page,

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, Orlando Bloom,

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, Alber Elbaz,

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, Charlize Theron,

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, and

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Royal baby gifts

The Lunchbox Fund is one of the four charities to which the

Duke Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are rank ...

and Duchess of Sussex suggested people might donate instead of sending gifts for their newborn son Archie in 2019.

References

External links

*{{official website, https://thelunchboxfund.org Educational organisations based in South Africa Children's charities based in South Africa