Ronni gets the double
Ronni Kahn has added to her NSW Local Hero of 2009 Award by being named Australia’s Local Hero 2010.
Ronni Kahn (c) with Prime Minister Keven Rudd and Adam Gilchrist
The 57-yr-old from the Sydney suburb of Bronte is the founder of OzHarvest, a service that collects surplus foods from events and distributes it to charities. Kahn had to have food regulations changed in order to carry out her dream which came to fruition in 2004.
Today OzHarvest delivers 110,000 meals a month to charities in Sydney, Canberra and Wollongong.
An excited Kahn told J-Wire: “It’s a wonderful feeling…but we cannot rest on our laurels. It’s pretty cool to have been named Local Hero but our plans are far from local. We open a branch in Newcastle within a fortnight and plans are well underway for an operation in Adelaide which hopefully will be operational sometime in April.”
Kahn, who immigrated from South Africa in 2004, added: “It must be said OzHarvest would not exist today without the input of all those who give their time and energy to make this program effective. Two awards? I am ecstatic!”
OzHarvest was created when Kahn became uncomfortable witnessing the amount of unwanted and left-over food being trashed by major caterers.
Thanks to Kahn, there are now thousands of Australians who have eaten like kings when their budgets allowed only for humble pie.
