Feeding Hong Kong

Feeding Hong Kong

Founded	2009[1]
Founder	Kevin Yeung Ka-wei, Gabrielle Kirstein, Christina Dean
Type	Food Bank
Focus	Distribute surplus food, fight hunger, reduce food waste
Location	Unit 715-717, Block A2, Yau Tong Industrial City, 17-25 Ko Fai Road, Yau Tong, Kowloon, Hong Kong
Area served	Hong Kong
Key people	Gabrielle Kirstein (Executive Director) Vincent Chan (Operations Director) Jove Cheung (Foodbank Manager)[2]
Website	http://feedinghk.org/

Feeding Hong Kong (simplified Chinese: 乐饷社; traditional Chinese: 樂餉社; pinyin: Lè xiǎng shè) is the first Hong Kong food bank dedicated to rescuing surplus food from retailers, distributors and manufacturers and redistributing it to people in need. They aim to fight hunger and reduce food waste in Hong Kong.^[3] It is an accredited member of The Global Food Banking Network.^[4][5]

Feeding Hong Kong is regarded as a food recycling operations, rather than a welfare group, so it does not receive public funding and relied on help from volunteers and donors.^[6]

History

Feeding Hong Kong was founded in 2009 by investor Kevin Yeung Ka-wei, and Gabrielle Kirstein and Christina Dean.^[7] In 2011, Feeding Hong Kong was scaled up from a programme under Green2Greener to an independent registered charity.^[8]

Food Rescue

Feeding Hong Kong works with over 60 food companies to collect and redistribute surplus food.^[9] The food that is safe to eat but not sold during business hours, is collected and distributed to partner charities. Canned and packaged food items with approaching sell-by dates, labelling errors, discontinued brands, surplus inventory, minor recipe variations or damaged packaging are also donated. The food is sorted and delivered to a network of partner charities, such as Bethune House, Crossroads Foundation, and Pok Oi Hospital, who provide food to the hungry in Hong Kong.^[10] Each consignment is tailored to meet the needs of the individual charity and those that rely on it.^[11]

Bread Run Logo

Bread Run

Twice a week, fresh bread and salads are rescued by volunteer "Bread Runners" from partner food stores such as Pret A Manger, Maxim's Cakes and Arome Bakery, that would typically be thrown away due to their short shelf life. Bread Runners visit 1-2 stores at closing time to pick up the surplus food and deliver them to a designated Feeding Hong Kong drop-off point. Feeding Hong Kong has a warehouse facility in Yau Tong and Tsuen Wan, which stores the collected food.^[12] All bread run donations are redistributed amongst their charity network the same night or first thing the following morning.^[13] Volunteers sign up for the bread run online through Eventbrite.^[14]

Programmes

They also raise awareness about poverty and food insecurity in Hong Kong and promote healthy eating and nutritional education to vulnerable groups in Hong Kong. Two of their nutritional programs are 'Chefs in the Community' and 'Edible Gardens'.

‘Chefs in the Community’ is a volunteer scheme, which aims to pair culinary professionals with local charities to develop their existing food programmes. The Feeding Hong Kong Cookbooks collection contains recipes that have been specifically developed by some of Hong Kong’s leading culinary and nutrition professionals. It aims to support Feeding Hong Kong’s charity partners to provide nutritious, affordable and effortless recipes that can be used to create delicious dishes at home. They can be prepared with limited ingredients, equipment and space, making them suitable for food kitchens and food parcel distributors, as well as other cooks on a budget. They also teach and share the recipes through their Nutrition and Cooking Class series.^[15]

The 'Edible Garden' programme helps convert unused roof tops and other urban spaces into edible gardens that grow herbs, fruit and vegetables. ^[16]

References