78.9M
meals distributed
The total
Our own direct feeding in Tongaat, everything partners cooked and served from food we delivered, and the relief programmes during Covid, the floods and the 2024 tornado.
Our Impact · 78.9 Million Meals Since 1995
31 Years. 78.9 Million Meals. Receipts for All of It.
This is the page for the donor who does not take charity marketing at face value.
You want numbers that hold up. Methodology that is explained rather than hidden. A model that answers the overhead question by design instead of by slogan.
Read the stats. Read how we counted them. Read where the money goes. Then decide.
31
years
78.9M
meals distributed
3.6M
lives touched
1,000+
meals a day
Trust IT 2049/2000 · NPO 019-028 · PBO 930020955 · Section 18A approved
How the model works
We Don’t Buy Food. Retailers Donate It. That Changes the Maths.
The overhead question trips every hunger organisation eventually. At most of them the bulk of your giving buys food, so the ratio of rand in to meal served has to be defended.
Here there is no ratio to defend. Our food is donated, free, by retailers who would otherwise throw it away.
Distribution Centre and Freshmark
7 locations on the north coast
Surplus and near-date stock
Verulam. Fresh produce
National redistribution network
What you give pays for the diesel, the vehicles, the electricity, the kitchen supplies and the people who move that food from a supermarket shelf to a family's table. The food is free. Moving it is not.
How we count the numbers
78.9 Million Is a Big Number. Here’s the Working.
A number that size needs a footnote. Here is ours.
57.4M
meals packaged
Packaged here
Prepared, portioned and ready to serve at the base in Tongaat, measured against the standard serving sizes we use on our own feeding days.
3.6M
lives touched
People, not portions
Unique individuals reached across 31 years, counted once per quarter per person. Repeat visits inside a quarter are not counted twice.
Annual reports are available on request, broken down by year, partner and programme. Email ablaze@missionsablaze.org.za or see the FAQ.
Where your giving actually goes
Real Costs. Real Lines. Real Receipts.
The full monthly operating cost, in plain view. Because the food is donated, everything you give goes to the machine that moves it.
About $4,175 a month keeps the whole operation running. Electricity alone is $2,000 of it, and not one cent is food.
Cost per meal
$4,175 ÷ 30 days ÷ 1,000+ daily meals = about $0.14 a meal.
That is logistics only. The food costs us nothing because retailers donate it. Without the rescue those meals would have been thrown away, so your giving intercepts waste rather than buying food.
$25 a month goes into the daily running of the mission. $50 keeps the station maintained and the storeroom stocked. 30 Operations Partners at $140 a month would cover every operating cost we have.
You can check the arithmetic.
Monthly operating cost
Electricity$2,000
Diesel, collection and delivery$900
Vehicle maintenance$375
Supplies, per partner kitchen$50
Missionary support, per person$25
Total monthly operations$4,175
Food$0 donated
Per meal moved
$0.14
What a day looks like
Before Sunrise to Supper. Same Rhythm for 31 Years.
Every weekday, the first vehicle leaves 1 Hospital Hill Road while it is still dark.
Before dawn
Vehicles run the north coast route, collecting what each retailer partner has set aside.
Mid-morning
Everything is back at the base in Tongaat, sorted by partner, by type, and by what will not keep.
Afternoon
It leaves again. Delivered to partner kitchens, or held back for the direct feeding in our community.
Evening
Families are eating. Partners cooked and served their own neighbourhoods the same day.
Adel makes the soup on the base every morning, and we feed more than 150 people in our community every feeding day. 6 households on the home feeding programme get a visit at their door. That is what a day here is actually made of.
The network, in numbers
Roughly 1,000 to 1,200 People a Day, Across KwaZulu-Natal.
Not every partner has returned full operational data. Some have detailed reach numbers going back years. Others are still catching up on the paperwork while the meals keep happening.
From what has been returned, the network serves roughly 1,000 to 1,200 people a day. Add the people we feed directly in our community every weekday, and the households on the home feeding programme.
We publish the conservative figure. 1,000+ is the number we will defend.
31 years of staying
A Track Record Is Harder to Fake Than a Homepage.
Anyone can build a website. 31 years on the same piece of land is a different kind of proof.
1995
It starts
8 missionaries. 2 kombis. 300 meals a day.
2000
On the register
NPO status granted. Bible School opened. Tinus ordained as pastor.
2005
Land secured
The plot for the orphanage is acquired.
2010
Doors open
Ablaze Center Orphanage officially opens.
2015
The peak, and a handover
Feeding peaked at 3,000 meals a day. Leadership passed to Hein van der Merwe during Tinus's health challenges.
2017
Tinus returns
Hein hands leadership back to Tinus, and stays on as a board member and long-term volunteer.
2021
Covid and the riots
Many food sources destroyed. We kept serving.
2022
The floods
400mm of rain buried communities. We kept serving.
2024
The Tongaat tornado
250 hot meals a day plus household goods, delivered across the affected areas.
2025
30 years
78.9 million meals distributed. 3.6 million lives touched.
Every organisation has a founding story. Not every one has a disaster record to go with it.
Real people, real places
Named Founders. Named Neighbourhoods.
Behind the 78.9 million is a network of local people who have run their kitchens for years. Zuziwe went from feeding 10 people to 80. Evalina started with 2 children and has 15 now. Tracy houses 18. Wiseman was asked to help with transport and ended up running the organisation. Pastor Bobby has cooked on Wednesdays for 23 years.
Who supplies and partners
29 Regular Sponsors Keep the Network Running.
Retail, logistics, faith-based and community organisations across South Africa and the United States.
South African sponsors
22
United States sponsors
7
Retail and food partners
5
Retail and food comes from the Shoprite Checkers group including the Distribution Centre and Freshmark, 7 Spar locations across the north coast, Woolworths, Food Lover's Market in Verulam, and Food Forward SA. Grace Church Silver Pines is one of several United States partners.
Want to verify further?
Ask for the Books. Arrange a Visit.
2 ways to check us before you partner. Organisations worth trusting welcome the question.
Come and see it
Tongaat is 40km north of Durban, close to King Shaka International Airport. We can host you at the base or arrange a visit to a partner kitchen. Email ablaze@missionsablaze.org.za.
Ask for the financials
Annual reports are available on request, broken down by year, partner and programme. Tell us the year you want and we will send the most recent available.
Step into the work
Proof Is for the Hesitant. Partnership Is for the Convinced.
You have seen the model, the methodology, the people and the paperwork.
- Start here
Join the Monthly Partners
From $25 a month, fund the vehicles, diesel and team that keep food moving.
Join the Monthly Partners Partner as a company
B-BBEE scorecard points, Section 18A certificates and employee volunteer days.
Corporate partnershipsSee the network
Named people, named neighbourhoods, and the areas they serve.
See the network
Trust IT 2049/2000 · NPO 019-028 · PBO 930020955 · Section 18A approved
