Montague, Australia’s leading family-owned fresh produce company, has vowed to aid under privileged Australians this Autumn by donating one million JAZZ™ apples to national food rescue organisation, SecondBite, to redistribute to local community programs throughout Australia. For two weeks in April [1], Montague and Coles will donate a combined 20c per kilogram of JAZZ™ apples purchased from Coles Supermarkets nationally to SecondBite. The goal of the program is to reduce the statistic of 731,300 children under the age of 15 living below the poverty line, according to the Australian Council of Social Service 2016 Report.
Montague, together with the JAZZ™ growers of Australia, will provide the initiative with a supply of one million apples. SecondBite will then redistribute these apples to third party community groups across Australia, such as the Salvation Army, Uniting Care and under privileged primary schools.
To celebrate this initiative, an Apple Harvest Event hosted by Montague, SecondBite and Foothills Community Centre took place on Monday 3 April. See a full gallery of images via this Dropbox link.
Montague have been in partnership with SecondBite for over eight years. This year’s contribution is Montague’s largest donation of apples since its establishment in 1948. “As a family company, Montague is delighted to be part of this effort with SecondBite, providing apples for a valuable program that gives back to the communities in need”, says Montague Director and third-generation family member, Scott Montague.
Coles Business Category Manager for Fruit, Daniel Williams, congratulated Montague on its generosity and announced Coles would match funds dollar for dollar. “We are proud that more than 600 Coles stores nationally donate surplus food to SecondBite to redistribute surplus food to people in need. We wanted to do a little more, so we’re really pleased to be matching dollar for dollar Montague’s generous donation on JAZZ™ apples sold at Coles across Australia over a two week period,” he said.
[1] Montague will donate 10c per kilogram of JAZZ™ apples purchased at Coles Supermarkets nationally between 17 April and 24 April 2017. Coles Supermarkets will match the donations dollar for dollar.
