Leading food rescue organisation OzHarvest expands iconic yellow fleet to Western Australia to deliver food to Perth’s hungry thanks to Santos

Friends and family, food and drink… Christmas is a time when you can possibly have too much of a good thing. Overloaded fridges and waistbands aside, excess consumption of food is a huge problem at this time of the year.

At the same time two million Australians struggle to access meals each year, half of whom are children.

To combat food waste and food security, OzHarvest, Australia’s leading food rescue charity, will be expanding its iconic food rescue fleet of yellow vans to Western Australia on 2 December and extend its purpose of “Nourishing our Country” to WA – thanks to Major Partner, Santos and support from local companies.

Due to increased demand for food relief in Perth and a call for assistance from local welfare agencies and organisations, OzHarvest requested support from local companies in WA to help fund the set up of the food relief organisation for the next three years.

Leading energy company, Santos, with offices in Perth and Adelaide, was the first to come on board to help fund the operational set up of OzHarvest WA including a food rescue van and driver.

Santos WA & NT General Manager Brett Woods said he was delighted that the company was able to help those less fortunate through support for a national food rescue group with a 10-year long track record of successfully helping those in need whilst, at the same time, addressing the issue of food waste.

Partnering with a group like OzHarvest makes a whole lot of sense for a number of good reasons, and we are very pleased to help bring this impactful organisation to Perth.

Perth financial advisor Andrew Chapman also gathered a few locals, shared the OzHarvest story and vision and has helped to raise further funds for OzHarvest.

The for-impact organisation is calling for interest and local support from financial donors, food donors and volunteers to get involved.

OzHarvest Founder and CEO, Ronni Kahn explained that the benefits to the community extend further than food rescue.

The idea is simple, but the logistics and operational side is complex. We know that we have a model that effectively and efficiently works and one that makes an enormous impact by diverting good food from landfill, saving food donors waste disposal costs, helping to ease food costs for local charities and most importantly, providing food to vulnerable communities and people in need. And of course all of which is better for our planet. Everybody deserves the right to good food.

While Australians are wasting $8 billion worth of food each year, it is not right that 2.5 million people today live with food insecurity in this country and don’t have access to quality nutritious food.

We calculated our Social Return on Investment (SROI) with the help from Bain & Company, and found that for every $1 invested into OzHarvest there is a social benefit value of $5.68 returned to society. Of course, you cannot monetize the love, joy, dignity and respect felt by those who receive the food.

Incredible support from local companies Metals X, Mining and Civil Management Services, TheTong Foundation, Merchant Group and Big Rock Toyota have all contributed to the set up of OzHarvest WA.

The Australian organisation, now in its 10^th year has its head office based in Sydney and operations in Adelaide, Brisbane, Gold Coast, Newcastle and Melbourne, Canberra and now Perth. Its regional arm REAP Food Rescue by OzHarvest sees its model replicated in regional and rural communities across the country.

To date, OzHarvest has delivered more than 30 million meals to vulnerable Australians by working in partnership with more than 600+ charities and welfare agencies across the country. Environmentally this has also saved 10,000 tonnes of good quality surplus food from ending up in landfill.

Education is a key component in OzHarvest’s purpose of ‘Nourishing Our Country’ and programs that they have developed such as NEST (Nutrition Education Sustenance Training) and Nourish are critical to changing the face of food security and food waste in Australia.

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For more information visit www.ozharvest.org or call 1800 108 006

Connect with us on Twitter or Instagram @ozharvest or search OzHarvestWA on Facebook

For more information, please contact:

Jennifer Keen, OzHarvest WA Manager E: [email protected] M: 0473 440 884

Louise Tran, OzHarvest Communications & Marketing Manager E: [email protected]    P: 02 9516 3877 M: 0466 620 744

KEY PERTH DATES:

25 November: Inaugural Cooking for a Cause session with OzHarvest

2 December: Official Launch of OzHarvest WA with Major Partners, VIP guests at Perth City Farm 6PM

OZHARVEST KEY DATES:

2004: OzHarvest started operations in November 2004

2005: Civil Liabilities Amendment Act legislation amended in NSW, with ACT, QLD and SA following to allow food donors to donate food to charitable organisations without fear of liability

2010: Founder and CEO Ronni Kahn awarded Australia’s Local Hero of the Year as part of the Australian of the Year Awards, OzHarvest Newcastle launched

2011: OzHarvest SA and QLD launched, REAP Food Rescue by OzHarvest developed for regional communities

2013: OzHarvest VIC launched, OzHarvest named UNEP partner to promote global Think.Eat.Save campaign, OzHarvest received United Nations Environment Program Community Award, NEST (Nutrition Education Sustenance Training) Program national roll-out, Nourish Program Pilot commences

2014: OzHarvest 10^th Birthday, new warehouse donated for OzHarvest HQ, OzHarvest WA and OzHarvest ACT launched, OzHarvest launched new cookbook Urban Harvest