Food Rescue, Ozharvests from the Reef

6th of September 2018

In a first for Cairns’ reef tourism industry, Great Adventures has joined forces with OzHarvest, Australia’s leading food rescue organisation, in a pilot program to provide excess quality food from its daily outer reef operations.

Quicksilver Group Managing Director Tony Baker said, “We’re absolutely delighted to be able to contribute to the work done by OzHarvest in our community. Initially, food is being collected three times per week and in the 3 months since commencing, we are donating the equivalent of more than 600 meals per month to OzHarvest's recipient charities. The success of the pilot has now seen our Cairns based boats Ocean Spirit and Silverswift join the program which will see a significant increase in charities assisted.”

Great Adventures meals are catered by the Pullman Cairns International, one of Cairns leading 5 Star hotels, and while food quantities are assessed daily depending on passenger requirements, there is inevitably excess food at the end of the day and this new collaboration with OzHarvest will ensure the food is no longer wasted. This has been a wonderful initiative championed by our Customer Service team recognising there was an opportunity to see this food directly assist those in need in our community.”

Manager of OzHarvest Cairns, Jana Gorski said, “Throwing away good food also wastes all the resources used in the production of that food. Despite the waste, 2 million Australians rely on food relief every year. Wasting food while others go without makes no sense. We are excited to have Great Adventures on this journey with us to reduce food waste while providing much-needed assistance to those in need in our community.”

We hope this pilot will allow us to expand the food rescue program throughout the Quicksilver Group and potentially other operators to enable OzHarvest to deliver significant relief for local charities struggling to meet the need in our wider community.”

OzHarvest currently supplies 23 agencies in the Cairns area that provide meals for those in need with new charities coming on board regularly. These range from shelters and emergency food relief programs to schools with breakfast programs.

Pictured left to right: OzHarvest's Jana Gorski with Satoshi, Pascale and Customer Services Manager Annelyse Andlauer.