Fair Food’s trucks have become a familiar sight on roads in The West. The registered charity is one of the original food rescue organisations and has been on the road since 2011. This decade, Fair Food has already saved over 2.5 million kgs of food that would otherwise have ended up in landfills.
However, you may be less familiar with Fair Food’s Conscious Kitchen initiative. The Conscious Kitchen transforms wonky carrots and broken courgettes into healthy, delicious meals. Last year, the Conscious Kitchen produced around 380 ready meals and 605 meal kits each week.
Fair Food’s General Manager Michelle Blau says that the Conscious Kitchen is a great way to reduce waste while providing nutritious kai. For those in emergency housing without cooking facilities or families living in overcrowded homes with limited kitchens, ready meals from the Conscious Kitchen mean comfort, dignity, and nourishment.
Meal kits also offer a lifeline for whānau recovering from injuries that make chopping and preparing food a challenge. None of Fair Food’s much-needed work would be possible without the fantastic team of volunteers, the charity’s lifeblood.
‘We had an incredible 16,498 hours donated to Fair Food last year,’ declares General Manager Michelle Blau. That’s an average of 93 volunteers rolling up their sleeves every week to ensure good food goes to those who need it most.
Managing and coordinating that volunteer effort is no mean feat. Fair Food applied to the 2024 Your West Support Fund, and $20,000 has allowed the charity to have a kitchen volunteer coordinator four days a week.
‘The support from The Trusts doesn’t just help us fill bellies – it helps build community,” says Michelle. She adds that it allows Fair Food to welcome nearly 100 volunteers a week, and the friendships formed at the kai tables are stronger than the pangs of hunger.
Together, Fair Food and its community partners are reducing waste, fighting hunger, and building resilience – one meal, one smile, and one shared hour at a time.
If you have some time on your hands and would like to make a difference, why not consider volunteering with the Fair Food team?
Check out the website for more information.
