Team of volunteers key to Kai Rescue
Two pallets of passionfruit puree, 40 boxes of apples and 10 catering-sized rolls of pastry might seem like an ingredient list for a fruit pie about to enter the Guinness Book of Records, but these items are just some of the types of food that I have collected from supermarkets, bakeries, orchardists and other food producers in my role as driver of the Kai Rescue van.
An initiative started through the Nelson Environment Centre a year ago, Kai Rescue collects, receives and distributes edible food to charities, food that would otherwise be dumped or given to animal farmers. This food might have passed its ‘ Best Before’ date, which is about quality, not safety. Anything past its ‘Use By’ date is not redistributed.
Our band of dedicated volunteers are from all walks of life and are the lifeblood of Kai Rescue. They help to sort the food in our depot (mainly bread and produce) and/or hop in the van and help me with the pickup. Nicola, Viv, Eric, Esther, John, Tom/Debbie and Marvellous Mark take turns to accompany me in the van on my rounds every morning. We have great chats, keep fit and feel purposeful – an ideal job!
By approximately 10.30am I’ve brought the final vanload back from Tahunanui, Stoke and Richmond. Some days we joke that you need mountaineering equipment to negotiate your way up our piles of collected bread. Many people are really surprised when they see how much food is ‘rescued’.
Representatives from registered charities (over 40 of them and still counting!) collect the food and distribute it to their various communities – we often hear anecdotes about how important this food is to their clients – helping to keep their kids fed and their heads above water.
So how do the volunteers find working for Kai Rescue?
Nicola Harwood, one of our dedicated volunteers, writes:
It is great to be able to volunteer some time to support the community you live in. Volunteering at Kai Rescue was an obvious choice for me, as someone who is interested in sustainability and the environment.
Its aim is to reduce food waste and to supply food to organisations serving people in the community who need food. Both aims I strongly support. Being there also means working for an organisation, Nelson Environment Centre, which was established to promote sustainability and environmental awareness in the region, running concerns such as e-waste recycling, waste education and the re-use shops alongside Kai Rescue. All good things.
Kai Rescue collects surplus food from local supermarkets, shops and food producers, sorts it and gets it ready for collection by local agencies which support people in need – either by providing free cooked meals, distributing that food to individual people or offering sustenance to people at other volunteer agencies.
My role is to assist, one morning a week, either accompanying Jenny in the van to pick up the food or working back at base with checking, weighing and sorting the food that is collected.
The supermarkets have a lot of surplus bread and bakery items. Condition and expiry dates have to be checked, barcodes crossed through to prevent resale and the items sorted into bakery and bread. This is all very clean and painless.
There is also a lot of produce, providing healthy food options for people. However, this can be a messier part of the process, as the produce has to be checked and sorted to remove anything which is overripe or inedible.
There always seems to be one mouldy or squishy piece of fruit in a bag of otherwise perfect produce.
Supermarkets also supply bin-ends of loose products, e.g. dried fruit and nuts – things that need to be cleared so the bin can be cleaned and refilled.
Often too, food producers contact the centre offering items which are surplus due to cancelled orders or oversupply, resulting in a freezer load of frozen pies or biscotti flavours which haven’t sold well.
There is always a lot of variety, and new things to discover about food products, as well as the opportunity to see behind the scenes at supermarkets and food producers when you don a highvis vest, drive the van and do a food pick-up run.
The other great thing about the work is the people. Karen and Sarah who I work with at the Centre are enthusiastic, committed and caring – and fun to work with. As are all the volunteers. Of course, in an ideal world, a programme like Kai Rescue would not be needed.
There should not be people going hungry today in New Zealand and we, as a society, shouldn’t be producing the surplus food we do; however, there are and we do – and Kai Rescue is running an important and necessary service.
Want to give us a hand?
Any excess produce from your own garden is always gratefully received. Depending on the season, we have been blessed with large quantities of silverbeet, pumpkins, zucchini, spinach, rhubarb, tomatoes, citrus and feijoas and we always easily manage to find homes for them.
Volunteer. We are always looking for people who can volunteer their time for a couple of hours on a weekday morning.
Donate. Nelson Environment Centre is a not-for-profit organisation that runs environmental initiatives such as Kai Rescue. We rely heavily on funding applications, grants, private donations and peoples’ goodwill to keep operating.
For more info, contact: Sarah Langi, Kai Rescue Coordinator, Ecoland, 31 Vanguard St, Nelson. Ph: 03 545 9176; Email: sarahlangi@nec.org.nz