Kaibosh wins supreme community award

11 September 2012

Kaibosh wins supreme community award

Kaibosh Food Rescue – the first organisation of its kind in New Zealand – won the Supreme Winner of the 2012 Wellington Airport Regional Community Awards last night.

The awards, presented at a ceremony hosted by Mayor Celia Wade-Brown in the Council Chamber, acknowledge the inspirational contribution of voluntary and non-profit organisations to Wellington. The awards are sponsored by Wellington International Airport in partnership with the Wellington Community Trust.

Kaibosh Food Rescue is the link between food retailers and other producers with surplus food, and the agencies that support people in need. In the past year they have redistributed 32,000 kilograms of surplus perishable food to a wide range of agencies.

Kaibosh collects food from local food retailers that while good to eat, is no longer suitable for sale, and distributes it to local community groups. This is done daily, so Kaibosh can deal with food not traditionally found in a food bank like fresh fruit and vegetables and bread.

Mayor Wade-Brown said the event celebrates Wellington's vibrant volunteer sector.

"These community awards are a big thank you to the volunteer and community sector," she says.

"These people make the effort for community wellbeing and their efforts deserve recognition. All the nominated groups are worthwhile and choosing the winners was hard. Their ideas will inspire future contributions.

"Kaibosh is brilliant – rescuing food that is unnecessarily destined for the landfill and giving people in need a change from packaged food – making it a social and environmental success story."

Steve Sanderson, Chief Executive of Wellington Airport, says the hard work put in by these dedicated groups plays an invaluable role in the community.

"Congratulations to Kaibosh Food Rescue and the work they do with volunteers in our community, filling a much-needed gap with a great innovative solution to provide a vital service for Wellington. We want to make sure that they are recognised and celebrated for their dedication and hard work."

Other category winners were:
• Pablos Art Studios Inc – Arts and Culture category
• Wellington SPCA for the Humane Education Programme – Education Child/Youth Development category
• Kaibosh Food Rescue – Health and Wellbeing category
• Wellington Marine Conservation Charitable Trust – Heritage and Environment category
• Special Olympics Wellington – Sport and Leisure category.

Each category winner received $500 and the chance to go through to the regional finals next month, when they will compete against category winners selected by other councils. The Wellington awards attracted around 60 nominations from a wide range of local groups.

ENDS

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