OzHarvest, Sydney's
first 'food rescue' charity
By Lisa Saremel
Having
worked in the events industry for 20 years, Ronni Kahn has seen the waste
of thousands of good meals, often left over from corporate functions
and similar events, while the city's homeless have gone
hungry.
"When I could, I would personally drop off some food at Matthew Talbot, but 99% of the time the food was going to waste," she explains.
"I reached a point in my personal life where I really did want to make a difference and I had to look at my skills and see what I could do that would work," Ms Kahn says.
"I heard about an organisation in America so I went over to meet the founder and find out how it did this work," she says.
So in 2004, with help from corporate sponsors and a small team of volunteers Ms Kahn founded OzHarvest, Sydney's first 'food rescue' charity.
In little more than a year, OzHarvest has collected over half a million meals from corporate kitchens, caterers, restaurants and delis, and has delivered fresh food to over 87 refuges, shelters and agencies on a daily basis.
OzHarvest has two vans on the road between 9am and 10.30pm six days a week.
"The concept behind OzHarvest is to supplement the food that agencies already purchase and cook," says OzHarvest's Operations Manager Linda Dave.
"Because the majority of agencies has such a small food budget, they don't have access to some of the gourmet food that's out there, so when we get it they're able to offer their clients a wider and more nutritious choice."
The Wayside Chapel in Potts Point is one agency that receives regular
food deliveries from OzHarvest, which helps keep running the Wayside's
busy Nomad café and drop-in centre.
Susan North of the Wayside says the range of services for the city's homeless that the Wayside provides depends on only a very small amount of funding.
"Getting those donations of food from OzHarvest is critical to helping feed the 100-200 people a day that frequent the café," she says.
"It's a place where people can come and get something cheap to eat, so it's nice to be able to offer something a bit different," Ms North says. "It's a social thing for people to get together too, and have a bit of company."
OzHarvest also donates food to the Wayside's Christmas Day lunch, a free event that attracts many homeless and isolated people for whom Christmas can be a lonely time.
OzHarvest hopes to expand its operations across Sydney and eventually rural areas increasing its number of donors, which currently stands at 100.
Susan North recognises this as a much-needed solution.
"If more people in corporations and large organisations knew how hard up some of the charities are, maybe they could direct food to OzHarvest or to charities directly," she says.
For more information on how to help The Wayside Chapel, visit www.thewaysidechapel.com
The Centre
for Volunteering [ABN 28 002 416 024]
Level 2, 228 Pitt Street, Sydney NSW 2000
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