OzHarvest was founded in 2004 by Ronni Kahn AO, after noticing the huge volume of food going to waste from her events business. Ronni did not set out to start a charity, rather just fix an obvious problem with a simple solution. Starting with one van in Sydney, she began rescuing food and delivering it to local charities.

As OzHarvest grew, Ronni and a team of pro-bono lawyers lobbied state governments to amend legislation allowing potential food donors to give their surplus food to charities without fear of liability. The Civil Liabilities Amendment Act was passed in NSW in 2005 and other states followed.

OzHarvest is now Australia’s leading food rescue organisation with a driving purpose to ‘Nourish our Country’. Our mission is to stop food waste, feed people in need and protect our planet by championing the value of food and driving change at all levels of society.  The impact of our work is strongly aligned to achieving five United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

We’re best known for our iconic yellow food rescue vans which save over 250 tonnes of good food every week from over 2,600 food donors and deliver it direct to over 1,500 charities that feed people in need.  We also create positive change through three national education programs, and with our advocacy work raising awareness about food security and doing whatever we can to halve Australia’s food waste by 2030.

Innovation is part of our DNA and we’re always looking to add value to what we do and find new ways to tackle food waste and feed hungry people.  We’re pioneering social impact projects from free supermarkets and a restaurant that feeds people in need and creating revenue generating products via OzHarvest Ventures.

Everyone at OzHarvest is driven by purpose and making an impact every day. It’s a mammoth team effort, made up of 350 devoted staff, a network of like-minded partners and over 3,000 passionate volunteers who live and breathe our message.