OzHarvest began operations on the Sunshine Coast in August 2013 with a yellow army of three volunteers. In that first month the Chapter collected and redistributed 150kg of quality surplus food to three local charities – Noosa Salvation Army, Coolum Salvation Army and You Turn. On this eight-year anniversary and more than 100 volunteers later they proudly celebrate a major achievement – delivering more than two million meals to local community members in need.
OzHarvest Sunshine Coast & Gympie founder and coordinator Michele Lipner noted that since starting operations in 2014, close to 700 tonnes of surplus food had been diverted from landfill and delivered to agencies helping those who are food insecure.
“our beginnings were very humble – a catchment area that incorporated Noosa to Coolum and three food donors. In those early days we redirected, on average, about 400kg of food each month from landfill. Currently we are located as far north as Gympie, down the coast to Caloundra and into the Sunshine Coast hinterland. We work with over 32 food donors, including our national partner Woolworths, and provide food to more than 40 local partners including churches, charities, schools and community centre. We now rescue and redistribute about 14,000kg of surplus food per month. This is a remarkable achievement.”
Michele said that addressing food insecurity over the past couple of years had been particularly challenging. The initial and ongoing impact of Covid, the recent floods, housing and economic stress, supply chain issues and local crop damage from inclement weather have all impacted on demand for OzHarvest services across the region. With the onset of Covid, demand almost doubled overnight, she said. While those numbers have dropped OzHarvest is still responding to demand levels that are 40 per cent above pre-Covid days with no relief in sight.
“Even with these challenges, we are so proud that we have been able to support our community and distribute our food to those who are most in need,” she said. “Whether in terms of our food relief efforts after Covid or our response to Gympie after the February floods to our ongoing food rescue activities with our partner agencies, we are out there seven days a week providing a valuable service to our community.”
Noosa Salvation Army Corps officer Matt Gluyas said they were so grateful for the wonderful work OzHarvest did to gather and distribute food to community centres across coast. “While we may live in paradise, we recognise there is so much pain among our community,” he said. “The increasing financial pressures have seen more and more locals finding themselves accessing food support from the Salvos. It’s only because of the incredible work that OzHarvest does that we are able to support families at their point of need. We are indeed better together.”
Michele added that while food rescue is its core business, equally important is community outreach and education to advocate for reducing food waste in the home and in our community. “We are also engaged in other key education, outreach and advocacy programs that focus on changing attitudes and behaviours around food and food waste,” she said. “These include school and community outreach, cooking programs and workshops, training around nutrition and healthy eating. We are always looking for community members to join our team of volunteers to help us not only get food to those most in need but to help us get that key message across – that wasting food wastes everything and we are each part of the solution to reducing food waste at home and in our community.”
