GABRIELLE KIRSTEIN

FOUNDER, FEEDING HONG KONG

She arrived in Hong Kong in 2003 to work in advertising and communications, but Gabrielle Kirstein left the industry in 2011 to establish Hong Kong’s first surplus food bank, after two years of volunteer work connecting bakeries with local shelters. Eventually, spurred on by her passion for social welfare issues, Kirstein registered Feeding Hong Kong as a charity with the goal of redirecting food away from landfills to those who need it most, and opened its first warehouse.

Over the past ten years, Feeding Hong Kong has played a crucial role in the fight against food waste, bridging the gap between corporations’ surplus food and communities that struggle to get enough to eat. As an independent registered charity, it doesn’t receive government funding and relies on the time and donations of volunteers and partners, yet has survived even during the height of the pandemic, when manpower was at an all-time low and logistical chains were disrupted.

Kirstein describes Feeding Hong Kong as a charity for charities, as it sources, collects, stores and redistributes surplus food that other organisations can cook or distribute to communities in need, creating a connected ecosystem that is bigger than the organisation itself. Now in its second decade, Feeding Hong Kong continues to advocate for awareness about food waste, but also for systemic change.