Making A Difference: KiwiHarvest CEO Deborah Manning

The old adage: ‘one man’s trash is another man’s treasure’ rings true for Deborah Manning.

She’s the driving force behind KiwiHarvest, a food rescue organisation that works with more than 300 food businesses to rescue surplus fresh food they aren’t able to sell.

These businesses include supermarkets, wholesalers, growers, manufacturers, producers, farmers markets, cafes, restaurants and hotels. The KiwiHarvest team then deliver good food, free of charge, to New Zealand charities and people in need.

Dubbed the ‘perishable food rescuers’, KiwiHarvest has delivered 5,577,182 meals since Deborah founded the organisation in Dunedin in 2012.

Deborah’s ‘ah-ha’ moment came while reading a story about dumpster divers seven years ago. The former physiotherapist and qualified lawyer always had a passion for people, saying she “genuinely wanted to leave the world a better place for my children and grandchildren.”

After learning about global food rescue initiatives, Deborah sought out to start her own — and so FoodShare was born.

“I’d take day-old bread and other supplies in my car to food banks. Eventually, the car got so full of food I couldn’t see out the back window. My local car dealer donated a van,” she says.

Across the ditch, Australia was following suit and developed OzHarvest with the support of the Goodman Foundation. Deborah says she jumped at the opportunity to ask the charity to help her establish a similar model here in New Zealand. FoodShare merged with KiwiHarvest, and the rest, as they say, is history.

Today, the organisation has seven refrigerated vehicles on the road — the newest of which services the Hawke’s Bay area in collaboration with food bank Nourished for Nil.

With established bases in both Auckland and Dunedin, Deborah has her sights set on opening a base in Queenstown, before deploying vehicles all over the country. “We are always looking to expand to new cities and towns or to collaborate with existing services to rescue fresh food to support those in need,” she says.

But as the business grows, so too does the need for volunteers. This financial year alone KiwiHarvest saw 5,000 hours volunteered to help deliver rescued food.

“We take care of our volunteers not only because they bring irreplaceable value to the business, but also because they take our message into the community,” Deborah says.

However, the impact of KiwiHarvest goes far beyond helping those in need.

Food that is lost or wasted produces carbon emissions, in the form of electricity used to manufacture and process food; energy used to transport, store and cook food; landfill emissions, as well as emissions from a change in land use and deforestation.

“40% of food produced does not make it to market. By keeping this food in the value chain we are reducing the greenhouse gas emissions associated with its loss and waste,” Deborah says.

While thousands of people have benefited from the efforts of the KiwiHarvest team so far, it’s important to note that not all food can be rescued. “Food safety is our number one priority. KiwiHarvest has strict food safe handling policies and procedures to ensure the food we pass on is safe and suitable for people,” Deborah explains.

“Every donation of food is assessed with the food donor, and we match it to the needs of the community groups to ensure safe handling and responsible redistribution.”

As 2019 looms, Deborah and her team have a national food rescue distribution hub in the pipeline for Auckland early next year. This hub will ensure KiwiHarvest continues on its current trajectory, while presenting new opportunities to partner with likeminded organisations and galvanise community action.

“We need to grow the support of both public and private partnerships to build capacity and scale our operations. Our growth is so fast we can barely keep up. So being transparent and having measurable impacts with real environmental, social and financial benefits, we are encouraged that our family of supporters and sponsors continues to grow.”

“KiwiHarvest doesn’t want to stand still on the war of food waste.”

• For more information, visit Kiwiharvest.org.nz.