Electric Van Makes for a Merry Xmas with Free Food Store

Electric Van Makes for a Merry Christmas for Food Rescue Free Store

Just Zilch is a non-profit organisation that rescues food supplies and provides food to more than 200 disadvantaged people a day at no cost and with no judgement.

Operating for over six years, more than 1.3 million useable food items have been taken out of the waste stream and given to more than 200,000 people and families in need across the Mid Central North Island.

Director and Founder, Rebecca Culver says recently she was approached by woman from Wellington who had heard of us and wanted to make a sustainable contribution to the work that Just Zilch does.

“The donation of Nissan EV 200 van is both amazing and overwhelming. It’s a very early Christmas present, and it will make a world of difference as it fits with our focus on sustainability.”

“The reduction in fuel costs mean we will be able to concentrate funding donations into other operational areas. It’s a tough job being a charity organisation, and this philanthropic gesture will make life a little bit easier,” says Ms Culver.

“We’ve been told it’s the first electric van in Palmerston North, which seems surprising! Hopefully we can inspire others to reduce their carbon footprints, just as we have with food rescue.”

The next challenge for Just Zilch is to come up with a sustainable alternative to plastic bags.

“At the moment we need them,” says Rebecca. “Hopefully we can find a like-minded business to help us – after-all being environmentally friendly should not just be the domain of the wealthy.”

The new van will be painted up in Just Zilch colours for free thanks to Freedom Print. The old van will be kept for the time being as a backup for large deliveries.

Miss Culver says 2018 has been another enormous year for Just Zilch.

It’s really pleasing to see that food rescue is becoming more and more the norm for businesses – we have a steadily increasing number of generous local suppliers. It’s needed, as sadly, the number of people we help continues to grow.”

www.justzilch.org.nz

www.facebook.com/justzilch

ENDS

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