Connecting the Dots Between Food, People, and Planet

Kaibosh continues to reduce food waste and feed communities. Their impact goes beyond logistics, strengthening community bonds and providing a vital lifeline to those in need. Here’s the news and milestones from the Kaibosh camp over the past 12 months.

Kaibosh is now in its 16th year of operation. The statistics of what have been achieved over that time, speak for themselves. Over 4 million kilograms of food redistributed since 2008, equating to over 11.5 million meals worth of food to the community, which has saved 10,741,326 kg of carbon dioxide equivalent from entering the atmosphere.

Kaibosh’s Chief Executive/kaiārahi, Susie Robertson likes to refer to Kaibosh as a logistics company with a heart. “We provide the trucks, the drivers, the volunteers and the hubs to safely sort and store food and get it out to those who need it most in our community”. 

They do a lot more than that. They strengthen community, help bring people together and connect people through kai. They act as a go-to place for people needing to know where to access food support in the Greater Wellington Region, receiving daily calls and emails. They host schools and medical students for tours of their three food rescue hubs. They also open their doors and systems to any groups wanting to start food rescue elsewhere in Aotearoa.

Pito-one Kitchen

The new Kaibosh Kitchen Pito-one was officially opened by Mayor Campbell Barry on 4 April, with Hutt South MP the Hon. Chris Bishop in attendance. Kaibosh’s Kitchen Coordinator, Ange Holtslag is cooking up passatas, soups, preserves, pickles, baking and banana bread - aiming to make upwards of 300 extra meals worth of food each week which is saving a further 5,640kgs of food a year from going to compost or landfill. The kai created in their kitchen is going down a treat with their recipient community groups.

Kaibosh are slowly building up a base of new kitchen volunteers in Lower Hutt to help peel, slice, dice and cook up nutritious kai three days a week. Susie says, this mahi has only been possible due to support from funders, donors, gifts in-kind and ongoing food donations of kitchen staples like flour, rice, salt.

The Kaibosh team are also busy working on an in-depth plan to access surplus food direct from growers in the Greater Wellington region. Kaibosh strongly believe that there is enough food in Aotearoa to feed everyone, but a lot of food is lost between paddock to plate or going to waste. They already work with a couple of generous orchards in Kāpiti who donate several tonne of fruit every year – all gratefully received by Kaibosh’s partner charities. This new outreach project is in its infancy, so expect to hear more about it in future updates from Kaibosh.

The Kaibosh team want to say a BIG thank you to all the amazing individuals who give 1% to help their important mahi. Your support of Kaibosh makes a difference for many people in Te Whanganui-a-Tara.

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Words and images supplied by Kaibosh.