Symbiotic partnerships come in all shapes but the combination of an airport and a food rescue charity is not an obvious pairing so it’s a big deal for KiwiHarvest to receive substantial funding from Queenstown Airport.

“It’s huge,” KiwiHarvest Queenstown branch manager Gary Hough told the Wānaka App.

The gift of operational funding is rare so the airport’s commitment of $25,000 each year for the next three years is a lifeline for the charity, he said.

“This is another huge step on our road to being a locally funded sustainable operation, so we can’t thank the airport team enough,” Gary said. 

“It makes it a lot easier to now concentrate on rescuing more food and helping those in our community in their time of need.”

Queenstown Airport sustainability and corporate affairs general manager Sara Irvine said the airport was “big fans of KiwiHarvest’s work and see this partnership as a perfect pairing”.

The funding fits well with the airport’s sustainability strategy by supporting the community’s needs and reducing waste, she said.

“It also benefits our whole region, with surplus food collected from growers, supermarkets, and cafes delivered to charities in Queenstown, Wānaka, and Cromwell.”

With Queenstown Airport’s funding announced last week (August 2), KiwiHarvest now has the finance to cover costs for fuel, wages, insurance and so on over the next three years, Gary said.

He said not-for-profit organisations often struggled to secure operational funding. Grants for specific projects were easier to come by: “I could get funding to have trucks on the road but no money to put fuel in them.”

Gary said he was a fan of local businesses supporting local charities and hoped other local businesses would consider adopting the airport’s model of funding.

KiwiHarvest collects surplus food before it can go to waste from supermarkets, wholesalers, restaurants and cafes and redistributes it to those who can feed others, such as Community Networks’ Food Bank, Kahu Youth and Food For Love.

It increased its operations in Wānaka about 18 months ago and now has six volunteers who use their own vehicles to collect and redistribute surplus food.

Gary said KiwiHarvest Queenstown had secured a second truck which meant one could operate permanently in Wānaka. The truck will be delivered after spring and in the summer a KiwiHarvest e-bike will be operating in Wānaka as well, collecting produce from local cafes and restaurants. 

Last year Community Networks/LINK community development coordinator Joanna Perry told the Wānaka App KiwiHarvest’s contributions to the food bank were “absolutely invaluable”.

In the 2023 financial year, the amount of food rescued and redistributed by KiwiHarvest’s Queenstown branch equated to 382,097 meals.

PHOTO: Supplied