OzHarvest WA hit a huge milestone in their food rescue operations when they delivered their ten millionth meal to clients at The Salvation Army – The Beacon in Perth.

OzHarvest WA State Manager Jennifer Keen explained the rapid growth in four years was thanks to community support and a network of over 300 local food businesses, which have helped save more than 1.2 million kgs of surplus food from landfill.

“Our yellow vans are on the road six days a week saving around 30,000 kgs of good quality food and delivering it to over 100 local charities, schools and community groups to help those most at risk across WA. We are incredibly proud to deliver our 10 millionth meal to The Beacon today, a charity that OzHarvest has supported since inception, delivering fresh fruit and vegetables, meat, dairy and assorted frozen meals three times a week for local men and women in need.”

“Ten million meals is a fantastic milestone in just four years. I’d love to see us get to 20 million meals in the next year, but we’ll definitely need some extra help to get there!  We know the need is there as many of the charities we deliver to say they could take double the food to meet demand,” said Ms Keen.

Robert Bonar from The Beacon said the regular supply of fresh food from OzHarvest means they can feed 100 people every day.

 “Without OzHarvest food, we would not be able to feed the men and women onsite fresh and nutritious meals every day.  The impact of receiving this food goes beyond filling hungry bellies as it saves valuable funds which we are able to redirect to provide other essential services to help support those doing it tough in the local community.”

Food rescue operations in WA rely on regular food donations from local businesses, including National Food Rescue Partner Woolworths who provide fresh and nutritious food from 53 outlets to help support more than 95 charitable organisations in the region.

Woolworths WA State General Manager Karl Weber said; “As the fresh food people, our love and respect for food is an essential part of who we are, and what we do. The ability to identify and divert our surplus fresh food to OzHarvest for local charities like the Beacon who help feed those in need, is a critical part of or day-to-day operations and support of the community.”

Running the fleet of OzHarvest vans is also supported national partner BP who provide free fuel, community support and donated a new refrigerated truck, ‘Ginger’, which has enabled OzHarvest to rescue an additional 1,400 kgs of food each week.

OzHarvest WA still has a list of charities waiting to receive food, and demand for food relief is constantly on the rise.  To help OzHarvest WA reach their next milestone, contact [email protected]