Aotearoa’s national food rescue and largest food support charity, the New Zealand Food Network (NZFN) has concluded its 5th Birthday, raising over 51,000 meals for Kiwis in need across the country.

To celebrate the charity’s five years of delivering much-needed food amidst Aotearoa’s persistent food insecurity crisis, NZFN called on its network of partners and other generous businesses to step up to the plate via The Birthday Wishlist.

Informed by feedback from the community, The Birthday Wishlist outlined the most-needed goods for NZFN’s recipient Food Hubs to stock their foodbanks, community organisations and whānau pantries – including meat and fish, dairy, eggs, fruits and vegetables, hygiene products and more.

In just under two months, NZFN’s network of partners ticked almost every item off the Wishlist, donating a total of 14,050kg of food (31,111 meal equivalents) with an estimated retail value of $222,865. Donated goods included beef mince from ANZCO, nutritious breakfast cereals from Kellanova and Sanitarium, vegan pies from Dad’s Pies, pet food from Nestlé, and coffee from JDE Coffee.

In addition, $41,000 in funds were generously donated by the network which will be used to purchase in-demand items for distribution at prices significantly below retail (up to 66% off). This includes venison mince, assorted pies, tinned soup and baked beans thanks to established purchasing relationships with suppliers across the motu. In total, that’s an additional 9,025kg of food, which equates to 20,055 meal equivalents!

The response from the network is a testament to the impact of NZFN and power of corporate - public collaboration, and NZFN would like to extend a special thank you to Foodstuffs North Island, Assetlink Services and Team Global Express for their meaningful contributions.

NZFN Chief Executive, Gavin Findlay, says, "We are incredibly grateful for everyone who stepped up to help and made our 5th birthday the most impactful yet. We’ll be delivering 100% of the food to our 65 Food Hubs across the motu as part of their regular deliveries of product in the coming month, helping them as we emerge from the tough winter period when budgets tighten even further.”

NZFN accepts a mixture of surplus stock – stock that cannot be sold or exported for a number of reasons including damaged packaging, mislabelling, best before and expiry dates – and intentionally gifted stock.

“The reality now is that both surplus donations and intentional gifts are very much needed to keep up with the rising demand for food support – which now includes middle-class and double income households. The generosity of our partners over the past two months shows their ongoing commitment to alleviating the burden of the cost of living crisis. We couldn’t do what we do without them,” adds Findlay.

However, the issues are far from over as food prices, rent, and unemployment levels continue to climb, and resourcing within the food support sector tightens due to a number of challenges.

That’s why NZFN is continuing to call on businesses and individuals to support in any way they can – whether that’s donating stock, funds, or time via volunteering opportunities.

About New Zealand Food Network

New Zealand Food Network (NZFN) is Aotearoa’s national food rescue and largest food support charity.

With distribution centres in Auckland and Christchurch, it accepts bulk surplus and donated food from food producers, growers and manufacturers and redistributes to 65 food hubs (regional food rescues, iwi, food banks and other charities) so that they may feed the communities they serve. Via these food hubs, NZFN ultimately serves a network of more than 2,000 frontline organisations across the country. NZFN’s services reduce GHG emissions from landfill and ensure a positive social impact by getting food to where it’s needed most.

NZFN’s operations are primarily funded by the Ministry of Social Development (MSD) to help address the issue of food insecurity nationwide. In addition to distributing donated food, NZFN purchases low-cost pantry staples and other household essentials with funds raised to help keep its Food Hubs well stocked. It also serves as procurement partner for registered Food Hubs to purchase food and can be activated in the event of an emergency to procure goods for MSD and government providers.

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