Welcoming Michelle Blau, General Manager at Fair Food, to Purposely Podcast. Fair Food is a West Auckland food rescue charity that describes itself as the food bank to the food banks. It collects good, healthy food before it becomes waste and gets itto people who would otherwise go without, around 15 tonnes every week, all for free. That is roughly 5,000 loaves of bread, 4,000 meat packs and 40,000 pieces of produce passing through each week. Started 15 years ago by community groups as a social supermarket, it moved to supplying community organisations directly, so people in crisis can get their needs met in as few stops as possible. Michelle makes a striking case. Aotearoa loses around 10% of the food it produces and exportsmost of the rest, yet she sees more hunger here than she saw working in places affected by conflict, drought and famine. The difference is that here, the cause is price. She talks about schools where children do not eat between Friday lunch and Monday breakfast, working families who now need food support, and how one unexpected bill can push a household to a food parcel. We also get into the environmental side. Fair Food sits where hunger and climate meet, saving more than 2,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions a year by keeping good kai out of landfill. Michelle explains why retailers are some of theirbest partners, the confusion between best before and use by dates, and the surprising things that come through the doors, from 26 pallets of oats to 60,000 almond croissants. Then Michelle takes us back to Kentucky, where she was raised by a single mum who worked as a school social worker. She is open about a childhood shaped by hardship, and bythe neighbours, family and friends whose generosity meant poverty never limited her potential. A strong sense of justice led her to a fellowship through the Civil Rights Project at Harvard, then eight years in the trade union movement,the Peace Corps in Kazakhstan, and communications leadership in international development, before she and her family chose Aotearoa as home. We talk about her leadership style, including holding corporate volunteers and elected leaders to Fair Food's values, and why she believes hunger is a solvableproblem in a country of five million people. Michelle closes with three things we can all do: know your neighbours and notice who is doingit tough, give if you can, and take the time to understand why so many peopleare struggling by getting out into communities beyond your own. • Fair Food's role as the food bank to the food banks • Why hunger exists in a country that produces so muchfood • Food insecurity among children and working families • Where food rescue, hunger and climate meet • Working with retailers and the truth about best beforedates • Michelle's journey from Kentucky to Aotearoa • Trade unions, collective action and internationaldevelopment • Leading with curiosity and holding people to account • Three practical ways to help turn the dial on hunger Find out more about Fair Food: https://www.fairfood.org.nz This episode of Purposely isbrought to you by Benevity and Trust Investments.
