Christina McBeth of Nourished for Nil says goodwill is being taken advantage of. Photo / File
Christina McBeth of Nourished for Nil says goodwill is being taken advantage of. Photo / File
A Hawke's Bay charity that gives out free food says people are taking advantage of it by onselling the food afterwards.
Nourished for Nil was formed in 2017 by Christina McBeth and Louise Saurin with a mission to rescue food that would otherwise go to waste and redistribute it tothe Hawke's Bay community.
McBeth said she was saddened and worried by an increasing number of accounts of people onselling on marketplace groups on Facebook.
"We are given the food in good faith for free, so it doesn't end up in landfill or being wasted. Onselling is absolutely not in the spirit in which we do food rescue," McBeth said.
"If this happens, our ability to receive food donations from businesses, supermarkets, and manufacturing may become severely hampered or jeopardised.
A team of Nourished for Nil volunteers giving out food during a 4:30 to 5:30 distribution. Photo/ Supplied.
"It is only of late that we have started hearing more about it."
The charity rescues surplus food which is good enough to eat but no longer good enough to sell, and redistributes it within the community.
"What we give out is not enough to sell, in general we are always trying to be very careful about the amount we give out precisely for this reason - unfortunately we can't police it, McBeth said.
"We need to speak up if people are taking that goodwill and ruining it by trying to make a dollar out of it."
The Nourished for Nil team is comprised of committed volunteers with a shared passion for reducing waste and helping the community.
Nourished for Nil does not discriminate, judge or label any community members who find themselves needing their service, they are open to everyone.
McBeth says they never want to get to a point where they have to make people qualify for the food they give away, adding there are other organisations who do that.
"People need to remember the spirit in which the food is given. It is given for free and we give it for free.
"We are sharing and we expect them to do the same, not make people pay for it."
Hastings Mayor Sandra Hazlehurst says she was grateful for the work the charity does.
"The food rescue programme relies solely on the generosity of food donors and their volunteers who collect and distribute the food.
