March 2011 sees OzHarvest Canberra Food rescue start its third year of operations in the local area. Three years of hard work and plenty of community support will see the charity deliver its 1,000,000th meal in late 2011. OzHarvest Canberra will move into its very own headquarters in March, leaving the two desks at the Communities@Work Campus in Weston Creek Community Centre and relocating to Lions Youth Haven in Kambah. Finally there’ll be some room for the volunteers to help out in the office! Don’t you love databases!
From one refrigerated van in early 2008, the service has grown to two vans picking up an average of 1000 meals a day. The meals are delivered free of charge to 55 charities in Canberra and Queanbeyan. Feedback from staff at refuges and charities has been positive, with stories of cost savings and positive health outcomes. Add to this the fact the food which was destined for the bin and subsequently landfill, is now gaining a ‘second value’.
Every day is different on the OzHarvest Canberra run. One day can see 230 dozen eggs donated, another can see 300 kilograms of potatoes picked up. For a service which relies on local business and caterers to source its product, it’s amazing how it just seems to happen! The crew were kept busy today picking up over 1000 kilos of fruit and veggies from a display the Canberra Show! When they’d done that, it was time to do the normal daily run. Big day!
There’s a little bit of magic about rescuing excess good food and handing it over to people in need, magic the OzHarvest Canberra team witness every day!
