radio - Qantas

Talking Business with ITA BUTTROSE
38
Ronni
Kahn
IB It is an extraordinary story, really it’s extraordinary. Is the
food free to the charity?
RK The food is free. We pick up the food free from the
donors and we deliver it for free to the charities and our
proviso is the charities have to provide it for free to their
clients. We cannot give food away to an agency that sells
it. Not for $1, not for ten cents, not for any money. Our food
has to be given away for free.
IB What sort of charities would benefit?
RK From major charities that most people know, like the
Mission Australia or The Exodus Foundation, to tiny little
charities, Ita, I will tell you a story that will hurt, it will hurt
you. We got a phone call this week from an aboriginal youth
hostel organisation that services 24 youth and has a food
budget of $12.50 per child per week, asking us for food.
When we arrive and deliver food, sandwiches, yogurts,
fresh fruit, fresh vegetables to an organisation like that, it
makes way more difference then it might make to a major
organisation that has food supplies organised.
IB Better resources.
RK Better resources. Within our 160 charities that we
service just in Sydney and Greater Sydney, because we’re
now in Newcastle servicing 25 charities and Wollongong
serving 10 and in Canberra serving over 40, that’s the
kind of food we deliver and that’s the kind of impact we
can make. It’s large well-known organisations and tiny
little ones. We’re non-denominational, so we supply food
to Christians, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, Greeks, it doesn’t
matter to us. If they’re in a food programme and receiving
food for free, then we can help them.
IB Your big cause, it must be to raise enough money so you
can do your work?
RK Yes, it costs OzHarvest less than a dollar to deliver a
meal. So if you think about it, if you gave me $10 right now, I
could supply ten meals to ten people in need. It’s a very rich
radio
QANTAS INFLIGHT ENTERTAINMENT | JUNE 2010