05/12/11: International Volunteer Day marks another milestone.

On Friday the 2nd of December, SecondBite celebrated International Volunteer Day by hosting a Volunteer Appreciation Day at our Kensington warehouse. We were fortunate to have Mary Wooldridge MP attend the event and deliver a heart-felt speech about the value of the outstanding achievements of the 515 volunteers at SecondBite and how important SecondBite is as an organisation. She also announced that SecondBite has officially surpassed another milestone with 5 million meals having now been redistributed by SecondBite.

We would like to send a huge THANK YOU to all of our volunteers who have allowed SecondBite to grow from a grass roots "idea" to a successful and innovative community charity.

Pictured Right: Peter, Volunteer Coordinator Emily Wild, Nat and Joe.

31/10/11: MasterChef Judges dish up to make a difference!

On Saturday the 22nd of October, the MasterChef Judges held a dinner in support of SecondBite and Sacred Heart Mission, in the Mission Dining Hall. A wonderful, fun and interactive night was hosted by Matt Preston, and guests were treated to a gourmet experience with courses prepared by fellow judges George Calombaris and Gary Mehigan. To sweeten the deal, dessert was prepared by one of Melbourne's top sweet-connoisseurs Darren Purchese, of Burch & Purchese Sweet Studio.

Enough was raised to provide 200,000 meals to the community, through SecondBite and Sacred Heart Mission.

20/10/11: SecondBite MASTERCHEF Dinner

SecondBite and Sacred Heart Mission are taking a select number of guests on an intimate food journey personally presented by MasterChef judges Gary Mehigan, George Calombaris, and your host Matt Preston.

A total of just 70 seats are available for this event and with tickets selling fast, we would like to offer the release of the final SecondBite table to our supporters for this once-in-a-lifetime event.

This intimate event will mean you will have an opportunity to interact with Gary, George and Matt, so be prepared for a fun night as the MasterChef team cook up a storm you’ll never forget!

Funds raised will provide more than 12,000 meals for Sacred Heart Mission patrons who are homeless and disadvantaged and assist SecondBite provide over 150,000 meals through their food rescue program.

Details
Date: Saturday 29th October
Time: 7pm
Location: Dining Hall, Sacred Heart Mission, St Kilda
Tickets: $1,000

All booking enquiries: Contact Stacey at SecondBite
Email: stacey@secondbite.org
Phone: 03 9376 3800

17/10/11: SecondBite partners with the Australian Red Cross

As part of Anti-Poverty Week, Red Cross and SecondBite are launching their new partnership to reduce food waste and improve access to food for vulnerable people. For more information, Click Here

05/10/11: SecondBite Community Connect moves 2.5 tonnes of food in Queensland!

During the month of September, 2.5 tonnes of fresh, surplus food was redistributed in Brisbane. This was facilitated through SecondBite's Community Connect initiative. This model effectively provides a frame work for local agencies to 'connect' with donors that have excess nutritious food, thereby saving it otherwise going to landfill. Standby for more connections in progress across Queensland and even more food being rescued!

We are also building our capacity across the state with delivery vans, staff and storage facilities taking shape. Research has identified a definite need for food rescue activities and a high demand for a simple, effective and user friendly way to receive food to support community food programs. SecondBite is enthusiastic about reducing food waste and the positive impact it will have on the community sector in Queensland.

16/09/11: SecondBite Food Angels is featured on the 7pm Project.

Find out more about this innovative SecondBite project here

15/09/11: Coles Community Food with SecondBite is launched.

Read the media release here

15-18/09/11: SecondBite is the official charity partner of Taste of Melbourne 2011

Taste of Melbourne returns to the iconic Royal Exhibition Building this September 15-18th, bringing together the city’s finest restaurants and an exceptional line up of premium food and drink producers for an unforgettable gourmet experience all under one roof.

18/09/11: SecondBite is official charity partner of inaugural High Noon Festival

The inaugural High Noon Street Festival will take place on Sunday 18 September 2011 from 10am to 6pm on High Street Northcote, between Clarke and Separation Streets. This years event will be hosting an Artisans’ market and providing quality children's entertainment with feature artists from the upcoming Northcote Kids’ Festival. We are are extremely excited to be a part of this fantastic celebration of arts and community. For more information, check out their media release or visit their website.

Australian report first to expose fresh food disparity

In March 2011, SecondBite released a report titled “Food Rescue - A Fresh Approach” that revealed how rescued food improves the health and social wellbeing of the most vulnerable members of the community.

The research findings were both encouraging and worrying. On the one hand they show how vital rescued food is to improving health outcomes. On the other hand they reveal that one third of the people who access food from community agency programs obtain all of their fruit and vegetables through meals provided by the agency and 66% rely on the programs for at least half their food intake.The community agencies who participated in the research reported that 71 per cent of the fresh food they use in their meals is from SecondBite.The report was launched at the Prahran Mission by the Victorian Premier, Ted Baillieu, who praised SecondBite for the research initiative. “It’s easy for an organisation just to pick up and do the obvious, but to actually embark on research and to test the boundaries is so important,” said Premier Baillieu.

The report highlights the need for more fresh food donations, in particular fruit and dairy. One of the most concerning findings was that the majority of participants were overweight but also malnourished, pointing to the need for more fresh food in their diet. Katy Barfield, Executive Director of SecondBite said Australia must get better at capturing surplus food and redistributing it to vulnerable members of the community. “The SecondBite model is economical, hasa positive environmentalimpact andcould potentially reduce the millions of tax payer’s dollars beingspent on health care. “Given the evidence revealed in this report - why do we continue to throw millions of tonnes of good qualityfood into landfill instead of re-distributing it to people in need?” said Ms Barfield.

Although SecondBite redistributed an impressive 880 tonnes of food in 2010, a massive 7.5 million tonnes of food still goes to waste in Australia each year, which would feed 13.6 million people a hearty meal three times a day for an entire year.

Geelong expanding with the recent full-time recruit

SecondBite has cemented its operations in Geelong with the recruitment of a full-time Food Program Coordinator, Daniel Arklay. Daniel, 29, is a Geelong boy who previously worked as a chef. Having him onboard permanently means that the food collection and redistribution in Geelong no longer relies on vans and staff sent down from Melbourne. Daniel says that he’s learnt a lot about the complexities of food security since starting at SecondBite. “I previously worked in restaurants that were full of diners every night, but knew little about the people who go without food and the agencies who help them. “When you’re privy to information, it’s hard to stand back and do nothing,” he said. “The agencies I visit often have bowls of fresh fruit sitting for people to help themselves, whereas before they couldn’t have afforded it. One day we took some bags of grapes to one of our agencies that does a daily breakfast, and it was great seeing all the guys standing around enjoying their bags of grapes, talking and laughing,” said Daniel.

Rotary Community Awards

The Rotary Club of Southbank awarded SecondBite with the major prize on May 3rd 2011 for the partnership with our corporate partner ISPT. SecondBite received a cheque for $10,000, sponsored by the Lord Mayors Charitable Fund.

SecondBite would like to congratulate Bob Glindemann, SecondBite Director, on his Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for service to the community through Rotary International and a range of social welfare, children’s and motor sport organisations. This was recognised on Australia Day this year.

Bob has spent the past 36 dedicated to lending a hand. He has been a Rotarian since 1974 and he joined Rotary because “it was a great way to get to know people and contribute to the community at the same time”. Bob said “he was both shocked and very honoured” to have been recognised by the award.

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