We’re delighted to announce that T&G Fresh is a foundation partner of the New Zealand Food Network (NZFN), a new Government-backed, not-for-profit organisation, providing much needed support to food hubs across New Zealand.
Every day we see COVID-19 unfold and the impact it’s having on Kiwi lives and livelihoods. As a result, many New Zealanders are facing increased financial hardship, and people are struggling to access and afford healthy, nutritious food.
We want to help address this through our partnership with the NZFN.
The NZFN acts as a centralised distribution hub, collecting and safely storing bulk donated food from producers and suppliers. Food hubs – like food rescues, Iwi and charities – can request food on an as-needed basis, and the NZFN distributes it to them.
“We’re partnering with the NZFN because we don’t want to see Kiwis go hungry. We want to be part of a sustainable solution, from the ground up, which provides healthy food to New Zealanders in need,” says Andrew Keaney, Managing Director T&G Fresh.
“On our farms and orchards, and also in our grower’s businesses, tonnes of nutritious fresh produce is grown every year and, depending on the harvest and demand, some of it might be surplus. We want to capture this surplus and make Aotearoa’s home-grown produce go as far as possible to help Kiwis.
“Across T&G, we regularly donate produce to a wide range of community groups. However, depending on the quantity and location of the produce to donate, some community organisations simply don’t have the facilities to accept large quantities, and it can be difficult to move donations around the country. The NZFN solves this challenge for us,” says Andrew.
T&G will work alongside NZFN to help aggregate, streamline and smooth the donation of perishable fruit and vegetables, and over the coming months, work to scale up donations from both itself and interested growers.
For more information about the New Zealand Food Network, please visit their website.
