Kaibosh: Zero Food Poverty, Zero Food Waste

Today I have decided to write about something a little bit different, but something that is close to my heart and many other people out there. I also believe, that in a slight way, it connects back to animals and the planet and that's what Daisy Pets is all about. This last Sunday, I was at the Newtown Festival and came across a banana suited woman who introduced me to Kaibosh.

Kaibosh is a charity that goes to local businesses (Cafes, supermarkets and the like) and takes their unwanted food, sorts through it and then donates it to local homeless shelters. What this means is not only are we getting rid of loads of unnecessary waste by throwing out perfectly good food, we are also feeding and helping the more unfortunate people in our community.

Kaibosh was founded in 2008, and started with a couple collecting food from Wishbone, storing it in their fridge overnight before donating it the next day to the local womans refuge. Now it has grown to having over 100 volunteers, who deliver 10,000kgs of quality, unwanted food each month to local community groups that support those people that are in need. This is the equivalent to 28,500 meals and a reduction in carbon emissions of 7,785kg.

With Kaibosh, there is a number of ways to help out their mission. The first is to actually volunteer your time, go out with them to collect the food, and help out at either of their branches, Wellington or Lower Hutt. The next, which I have done, is to donate money. You can do as little or as much as you would like, on a basis that suits you. If you donate at least $15 a month you become part of the Food Rescue Hero club which I will explain more about further down. The last way to help out is to donate food if you are a local business owner.

The Food Rescue Hero club is a way to give back to the amazing people that donate to Kaibosh. They have teamed up with a bunch of local charities to offer discounts and deals to their club members. Also, when you first sign up to start donating you get a welcome pack which includes an Ideal Cup, a bag of Peoples Coffee and some chocolate from Wellington Chocolate Factory. To find out more, go to www.kaibosh.org.nz/food-rescue-heroes.

I think this is an amazing program, and one that I really want to get behind and support. I have just started donating on a monthly basis as at this stage I am unable to dedicate time to volunteering. I recently took a trip to Wellington Dump and was disgusted by the amount of rubbish floating around the hills. It really opened my eyes to the amount of waste that I am producing, and now I want to focus on being more enviormently friendly, in not only my choice of products, but by my choice of packaging as well. Kaibosh really tee's up with my new goals as they are aiming for a 'Zero Food Poverty, Zero Food Waste' in Wellington. I think this is a programme that will only grow from strength to strength, and we will be hearing a lot more about it in the future. I am excited to be a part of this great new project.

If you want any more information visit www.kaibosh.org.nz