The total number of people suffering from lack of food world wide is over one billion. Food waste or food loss is food that is discarded or lost uneaten. The causes of food waste or loss are numerous and occur at the stages of producing, processing, retailing and consuming. Global food loss and waste amount to between one-third and one-half of all food produced.
SOS (Scholars Of Sustenanc) Food Rescue, is an international charity formed to address global food distribution issues. They firmly believe that food insecurity & food waste is one of the most pressing societal & environmental issues of our time. Their goal is to establish well-managed systems that apply potential waste and surplus food in a meaningful way for communities in need. With educational efforts that engage and encourage communities to make a difference, they are creating greater awareness of these issues and help protect the life-cycle of this precious resource.
Baan Unrak’s outreach relief program initially started to help the people from Myanmar who were left in poverty due to fleeing their living conditions. This also led to the breakdown of family structures leaving people to fend for themselves with very little resources. So, Baan Unrak started providing food, clothing and whatever else they could for these people. With the growth of Baan Unrak and the Outreach relief program, more financial aid is necessary to keep it up.
When our volunteer Sharmiley heard about the SOS Food Rescue program, she immediately saw and opportunity for Baan Unrak to collaborate with them in order to help feed the people in Baan Unrak’s outreach relief program, and the children of Baan Unrak. After having a phone conference with Abigail Smith and Bruce Chen, an agreement was made.
Baan Unrak was invited to pickup the first batch of food on November 17th 2018. Both parties were overjoyed to be able to help people in need. Bruce Chen made sure he kept some dry food like rice, oil, pasta, beans and canned fish and vegetable for our outreach program separate so they could choose what they wanted or needed.
The Food was separated and distributed to the people of the outreach program and some vegetarian items which we were sure the people from the outreach program would not use were provided to the children at Baan Unrak, together with the fruit and vegetable SOS Food were able to keep fresh for us.
The feeling of seeing the joy on the faces of the children of Baan Unrak and the people from the outreach program, receiving more food than just the bag of rice, which they are accustomed to is an exhilarating one.
Baan Unrak want to create awareness for this wonderful organization and hope that this article will inspire you to make a donation, so they can keep up the amazing work they are doing.