EBM Team at Foodbank
Woodside continues to work towards Sustainable Development Goals* through their volunteer programs with Volunteering WA. This time it was their Engineering Business Management Team working towards no poverty (SDG 1) and zero hunger (SDG 2). The "no poverty" goal strives to reduce and ultimately eradicate extreme poverty in the world and the "zero hunger" goal challenges us to rethink how we grow, share and consume our food to work towards ending hunger, achieving food security and improved nutrition and promoting sustainable agriculture. Woodside partnered with Foodbank to move a step in the right direction towards achieving these goals.
Foodbank is Australia’s largest hunger relief organisation, providing 63 million meals a year to over 2,600 charities and 1,750 schools. So far, it has provided over 532 million meals to Australians! Each year, it distributes over 35 million kilograms of food and groceries – that’s the equivalent of over 172,000 meals a day! Foodbank accounts for 70% of all the food distributed to charities by food rescue organisations in Australia. Foodbank works with the entire Australian food and grocery industry including farmers, wholesalers, manufacturers and retailers. Donations include stock that’s out of specification, close to expiry, or excess to requirements. Companies also make donations as part of a commitment to social responsibility or a cause-related marketing campaign. In addition, Foodbank collaborates with suppliers, manufacturers and transporters in programs like the Collaborative Supply Program, to source key staple foods that don’t come in sufficient quantities via rescue channels.
After the success of the Projects team at Foodbank a week prior, a team of volunteers from the Engineering Business Management department were eager to get to work. Although they were not in the office, they had their Woodside hats on and put some continuous improvement into action. The team of 10 volunteers made their way to the warehouse where they were split into two groups, with one group on meats, and the other on fruits.
Foodbank had recently received tonnes of pork from WA farmers who were having trouble competing with the low price of pork, leaving lots unsold. Pork was featured in the form of pork patties, which the team had to portion into individual packs.
Crates of apples had also been received, which the second team was responsible for portioning into individual bags.
The team didn't just see this project as a fun day out of the office though, with them always looking for ways to improve the processes and work faster, and both teams were quick to set up production lines to get the packs churned out as quickly as possible. And they sure did a great job!
“ A sense of purpose and delivery, great teamwork throughout.”
The team spoke very highly about the whole experience, particularly enjoying the teamwork aspect of the day and being able to support each other on getting the job done. They also enjoyed the practical aspect of the project, knowing that the work they were doing was going to make a difference and help real people, and it definitely will help a great deal of people. So thank you team for your efforts and your amazing work!
