Ronni Kahn is the founder of OzHarvest, a service that collects and delivers surplus food to charities. She originally ran an events business and was horrified by the amount of left over food that was thrown out. She began driving it to a hostel rather than let it go to waste. But she knew there was much more that could be done, and in 2004, OzHarvest was born. Five years later OzHarvest has over 600 food donors and delivers more than 110,000 meals each month to 163 charities in Sydney, Canberra and Wollongong.
Ronni plans to go national next year. Due to the perseverance of Ronni and others, the law has been changed in NSW, ACT, QLD, SA (and soon will be in WA) to ensure that food donors are safe from liability. OzHarvest has had a profound impact on the environment by saving thousands of tonnes of food from landfill, and on clients of charities who are able to eat quality, nutritious food.
20 YEARS OF AUSTRALIA'S LOCAL HERO AWARD
Today, OzHarvest is Australia’s leading food rescue organisation with a ‘yellow army’ of 300 staff and 3000 volunteers. The charity's model is now established in New Zealand, South Africa and the United Kingdom and Ronnie continues to be a lead spokesperson on food waste throughout the world.
Through their programs and advocacy work, OzHarvest is actively educating people about food waste, food security and sustainability, inspiring a change in behaviour to help reach the national target of halving food waste by 2030. Additionally, OzHarvest’s hospitality training program for vulnerable youth is transforming lives by increasing community connectedness, building self-worth and confidence.