Who are we?
What inspired us to create
Feed it Foward
“Nā tō rourou, nā taku rourou ka ora ai te iwi.”
“With your food basket and my food basket, the people will thrive.”
Our Story
As members of a group called Nans on a Mission (Maori Nannies from New Zealand) we began volunteering our time supporting an ever-growing number of Kiwi families living in Western Australia with rescued food, due to not being eligible for government assistance (ie; Centrelink when facing times of crisis and financial hardship). We soon learned that there were a lot more people in WA facing food insecurity than just our Kiwi communities.
It is a proud and inspiring memory of how quickly and effortlessly volunteers gathered with open hearts and an endless willingness to help, offering their time and energy without judgment to help families in need. It is this particular way of collaborating and helping that we acknowledge and pay tribute to. This way underpins, encompasses, and guides all of our charitable activities that make up Feed it Forward - it is the way of our ancestors and the very essence of Maori culture in action. We are now lucky enough to be an eclectic mix of cultures and ethnicities, a group of volunteers from all walks of life - all collaborating and helping to put food on the tables of families in need.
Our first collection was from Coles Baldivis WA, in 2018, serving a hand full of families and local community groups around Baldivis and surrounding suburbs. As our access to edible food destined for landfill increased along with an increasing demand from families in need, our good friend and volunteer, Phil Charles - National Manager of Sylex - generously offered to store bulk items in their Cockburn premises, allowing us to successfully manage our growing storage requirements.
To date, we have collected from over 146 locations from organisations which include Aldi, Coles, Costco, Nandos, Oasis Fresh, SecondBite, Stockland Malls, Superior Food Services, Woolworths, and several independent bakeries.
These collections provide food relief to all communities within the Perth Metro Region and Western Australian regions, such as the homeless, aged care, daycares, families in need, school breakfast clubs, soup kitchens, church groups, men & women refuges, and lots of other community groups.
We acknowledge and thank all our partnering food donors, and distributing organisations and groups for working alongside us to reduce food insecurity in WA and we look forward to our continued partnership. Feed it Forward is a community-led, grass roots initiative, a 100% volunteer organisation.
Our volunteers who dedicate their time and resources to collect and distribute rescued food to families and communities in need, are the heart and soul of our organisation.
“Nga manaakitanga ki a tatou katoa” - showing respect, generosity, and care, blessings to all.
Our Mission
Knowing the need for food is very real within our local communities, we do our utmost to help save surplus food from landfills and supply food relief to WA communities in need including aged care, school breakfast clubs, daycares, homeless shelters and churches.
Our Volunteers
The heart of our organisation is our volunteers.
A network of selfless individuals putting all our baskets of knowledge and resources together so that we can "all eat" whilst still adding value to our local communities for all to be fed and enjoyed.
What Makes us Different?
No warehouse/office overheads.
No company trucks/vehicles to operate and maintain.
No staff salaries.
100% of monetary donations go towards achieving our charitable purpose.
Believe it or not, everything we have achieved to date is due to the 'unstoppable collective desire' of our volunteers to help our communities in need.