With great delight OzHarvest today officially celebrated the latest arrival to the family of food rescue vehicles in South Australia.  Affectionately named ‘Daisy’, the new van increases the ability of OzHarvest to prevent food waste and spread goodness right across Adelaide.

With a ceremony held at Whitmore Square in the Central Business District OzHarvest CEO Ronni Kahn gave deep and heartfelt thanks to the two organisations that have helped Daisy to become a reality so quickly – The South Australian Government (through The Department of Communities and Social Inclusion) and the F.W.H. Foundation.

Recipient agency of OzHarvest donations Westcare said that many people of Adelaide are facing extraordinarily tough circumstances and OzHarvest is helping to change that.  “From the daily deliveries of fresh fruit and vegies, the smiles from the drivers and the simple but vital routine of coming every single day – it’s changing lives,” said Westcare Manager Ken Henderson

“Daisy” will provide additional capacity right across existing OzHarvest food rescue routes, collecting surplus food from more food businesses and delivering this to more charitable organisations across wider metropolitan Adelaide, many of which are currently wait-listed to receive food.  Daisy’s arrival also will enable OzHarvest to rescue substantial additional amounts of food from Woolworths as part of a national partnership arrangement. At today’s launch event, an initial food collection from Woolworths was rescued by Daisy for delivery later today.

Rossana Carbone, Woolworths State Administration Manager, said, “Woolworths is proud to be a leading contributor to the great work by OzHarvest in South Australia.  This new vehicle will mean a further 20 Woolworths stores will join the food recycling program, from Gilles Plains to Morphett Vale. Woolworths looks forward to continuing to grow the partnership with OzHarvest.”

Incredible support from two key organisations has helped this project come to life.  $68,000 was provided by the State Government through Community Benefit SA Fund My Community Program which has financed the van.  $70,000 was provided by Adelaide philanthropic group the F.W.H. Foundation to provide for the driver and vehicle running costs for one year.

OzHarvest Founder and CEO Ronni Kahn said that cutting national food waste by half by 2025 is an ambitious goal, but one to take seriously.  “Imagine a world where food waste and hunger is eliminated.  We must all take responsibility for the four million tonnes of food Australians send to landfill each year. The support to get Daisy on the road to rescue even more surplus food, shows this community taking real tangible action to reduce food waste, help vulnerable Australians and protect the environment,” Ms Kahn said.

The launch of the fourth van comes as OzHarvest SA enters its fifth year of operation in Adelaide, having delivered the equivalent of more than 4 million meals across Adelaide since launch.  Currently OzHarvest SA delivers an average of 50,000 tonnes of surplus food per month to more than 800 charitable agencies rescued from more than 100 regular food donors.  With the arrival of Daisy it is anticipated that food rescue volumes will increase to at least 60,000 tonnes food rescued per month.