FEEDING THE LEGENDS: Nourished for Nil

This month, we shout out to the team at Nourished for Nil, based in Hawke’s Bay, for their passion for tackling food waste locally and distributing food to the good people of their community.

Nourished for Nil was born out of a passion to address food waste in February 2017, when founders Christina McBeth and Louise Saurin began their first free food distribution programme in a Hastings Park. 

"Food waste is referred to as 'food that is fit for consumption but is consciously discarded at the retail or consumption phases'. Everyone creates food waste and everyone is part of the solution".

With this global issue at the front of mind, the Nourished for Nil team started from humble beginnings, having just three tables of food donations in a park outside, to an incredible 400 square meter premise on Karamu Road months later. The not-for-profit organisation has come a long way over the past few years, and Nourished for Nil now operate 5 days a week, out of four venues between Hastings and Napier. 

Starting with a small team of eight, Christina and Louise have grown their organisation with the help of over 60 volunteers to collect, sort, bag and serve a huge variety of food to over 1000 families a week. In 2020, the team redirected 989 tonnes of food from being thrown out, and in 2021, they are likely to reach over 1100 tonnes. With this much food rescued and distributed to people in their community since 2017, Nourished for Nil have no plans of slowing down! With support from corporate sponsor Westpac, private donations, koha, and the local council, Nourished for Nil’s food rescue model can continue to sustainably address food waste and nourish the people in the community. 

To say thank to the legends at Nourished for Nil, we’ll be fuelling the team and their volunteers with BurgerFuel for their passion for reducing food waste and helping the community!