In 2024, Healthy Cities Illawarra was proud to spearhead a Regional Food Coordinator program as the very first region in NSW to do so, thanks to generous funding from the NSW Environmental Protection Authority. We are fortunate to have a food rescue and relief sector that collectively rescues a vast amount of food to feed an increasing number of people in need in the Illawarra. The goal of this three-year program is to increase connections and collaborations in the sector to ultimately increase the amount of edible food rescued from landfill to feed the increasing number of people in need.
Here’s what we’ve been up to so far this year.
The Illawarra Food Donations Whatsapp Group was launched – and on the news!
For some time, our Food Rescue and Relief Working Group has been exploring ways to help food relief organisations respond quickly to ad hoc opportunities to collect surplus food. We decided to keep it simple—a group chat. In January, the Illawarra Food Donations WhatsApp group was born. This straightforward solution connects hospitality and food retail businesses with local food relief organisations, allowing them to share when they have edible surplus food so it can be redirected to people who need it, rather than going to landfill.
It didn’t take long for the first food swap to happen—but don’t just take our word for it. Check out this story from WIN Network!
Food Rescue & Relief Working Group event
Wondering what that Food Rescue and Relief Working Group is all about? We’re a collective of professionals from various food relief and food rescue organisations in the Illawarra who come together every two months to connect, share challenges and barriers, brainstorm solutions and collaborate to reach more people in need. To kick off a year of action, we hosted an in-person event at The Foundery in Port Kembla where food rescue organisations OzHarvest and SecondBite provided updates on their work in the Illawarra, Warrawong Residents Forum Manager Ash Castro spoke about the bigger impact on people’s lives that’s created through people engaging with food relief at their community centre, and we had a solid brainstorming session on multiple facets of food rescue and relief to help guide action moving forward. If you work in food rescue and relief in the Illawarra and would like to be part of the group, please email us at foodfairness@healthycities.org.au.
Baseline data collection
You may remember in our January update that we piloted a survey to collect baseline data on the amount of food being rescued from landfill in our region with our project partners. After collecting some feedback and making a few tweaks, the survey has now been sent out to the entire food relief and rescue sector in the region. In partnership with researchers at the University of Wollongong, this will allow us to establish the very first baseline of rescued food in the region, create a clearer image of the current landscape of food waste and food relief, and help us measure and track progress, shifts and improvements. We’re looking forward to being able to share the results with you!
Rescuing food from Yours & Owls festival
In case you didn’t see us at Yours & Owls festival in Wollongong on the first weekend of March, we were on a mission – to explore what’s possible in food rescue at a large-scale event in the community. Picture this: our Fair Food Coordinator Grace struggling to carry large crates of bread rolls through the festival at 10pm on Sunday night. With sustainability as a core value of Yours & Owls, the festival was kind enough to let us contact food vendors to discuss what they might be able to donate and explore the logistical barriers, challenges and opportunities of rescuing food from events to be diverted to food relief. Adhering to food safety guidelines means that we had to unfortunately leave perishables, but we did rescue lots of leftover bread rolls from Shorty’s Food Truck and Frankie’s Food Truck, which we froze and delivered to Wollongong Community Corrections for their food pantry.
“Wollongong Community Corrections clientele are often vulnerable, homeless, struggle financially, and steal for the basics such as food and hygiene. The bread rolls we received have made a huge impact this week as our offenders have left with food and dignity.”
To stay up-to-date with our regional journey to make food accessible to all, sign up to the Food Fairness Illawarra newsletter.
