Since March 2017 the organisation’s Sapphire Coast North Chapter has rescued 8000kg of food from being thrown out and redistributed it to schools and preschools around Bermagui, Wallaga Lake, Quaama and Narooma. 

On Wednesday, June 6 it expanded its operations to include Cobargo Preschool. 

“Food is what can bring us all together and it can make a real difference,” Sapphire Coast North Chapter coordinator Rebeccah Norman said.  

“If we can help families a little bit each week, then we’ve done our job.” 

She said there was a real need to bring OzHarvest’s produce to Cobargo because there was no longer a supermarket in the town. 

The program has brought many benefits to the community it serves.

At one of the chapter’s schools, Ms Norman discovered each time they delivered produce the next day all children came to the school with a packed lunch. 

She found people would use up OzHarvest’s food before any they had bought themselves, because they did not want it to go to waste after it had been donated. 

Also, she said children who received the produce consumed types of food they may not have tried before and became more willing to eat fruit and vegetables. 

Ms Norman became involved in the organisation because she hates waste.

“One out of five shopping bags of food is wasted at home,” she said. 

Currently the chapter’s produce is provided by Woolworths in Bermagui and Narooma, the 777 Supermarket and Deli, and Honorbread in Bermagui, with Ms Norman’s future goal to see local primary producers also contribute food donations. 

Cobargo Preschool’s early childhood teacher Christine McKnight said some of the produce will be used in the preschool’s cooking program while the rest will be available for preschool families to take home and enjoy.  

“We're very excited to be part of this wonderful initiative and look forward to promoting the principles of sustainability and healthy eating with the children in such a meaningful way,” she said. 

“Each day we cook with the children to prepare nutritious ‘breakfast club’ snacks in which the children get to try different healthy foods to give them energy early in the day at preschool.

“The children will see the arrival of the OzHarvest produce, we will talk about the goodies in the box and choose some to cook with which will make them part of the process.” 

The produce will be delivered to the preschool each Wednesday.