August 4-10 was National Homelessness Week, and the OzHarvest Food Truck was out in the community serving over 150 hot and nourishing lunches at Rough Edges in Sydney. Guests at Rough Edges, a community centre that supports people experiencing homelessness and marginalisation, were treated to a choice of beef and lamb ragu, butter vegetable curry and a chocolate brownie for dessert – all made specially for the event by OzHarvest’s team of chefs. Luckily for Rough Edges’ evening patrons, around 50 serves were left-over from lunch and saved for them to enjoy as well.

The OzHarvest Food Truck team were joined by two volunteers from our National Food Rescue Partner, Woolworths: Katherine Stone and Nicole Byrnes. Nicole Byrnes said of the experience: “It was a real pleasure to be able to serve a meal to people who needed it and really appreciated it. I am so proud to work for a company that allows us time to support our community. What a great partnership between OzHarvest and Woolworths.”

This was the first appearance of the OzHarvest Food Truck at Rough Edges, but the centre is also a regular receiver of food deliveries from OzHarvest. Rough Edges team leader Ryan Naoum said, “The food that OzHarvest provides not only nourishes, it provides people with a great space to be able to talk and connect with each other. This is what we try to provide at Rough Edges, and this is what OzHarvest food allows us to do.”

Homelessness Week is an annual week across Australia to raise awareness of people experiencing homelessness, the issues they face and the action needed to achieve enduring solutions. In 2019, Homelessness Week was the 4th -10th August around the theme “Housing Ends Homelessness’’.

If you would like to help us support organisations like Rough Edges, head here to donate to OzHarvest.