Plate it Forward

About

Plate it Forward is a community driven organisation focused on empowering individuals from vulnerable communities to overcome barriers to social and economic participation. Launched in 2020, Plate it Forward was initially developed as an immediate solution to food insecurity, providing meals to Sydney communities during the COVID-19 pandemic. Since then, Plate it Forward has grown into a unique organisation that harnesses the power of food to bring people and communities together.

In doing so, Plate it Forward is enabling social equity by giving a chance to those who are often denied one. We do this by providing restaurant-quality meals, training and employment opportunities to vulnerable Sydney communities. To date we have donated over 280,000 meals to community, delivered over 36,000 hours of paid employment, and employed 102 individuals from marginalised communities.

Program donations fund:

These funds will contribute to Plate it Forward's paid training programs for Indigenous community members and long term unemployed individuals. These funds will be used to support the wages and food costs of our programs, resulting in improved economic, health, and social wellbeing outcomes for our employees, their families, and communities. This funding will also help us to reduce food insecurity in communities across Sydney.

The two programs this funding will support are:

• Ability Social and The Social Meal. Ability Social is our 6 month paid chef training program for Indigenous community members. Students learn in the kitchen alongside our experienced chefs by preparing and cooking meals for our meal donation program.
• The Social Meal. Each week, our students cook over 1,200 meals to be distributed by over 10 charity partners to individuals and families throughout Sydney. At the end of the program, students are offered full time employment at a Plate it Forward venue to develop their career and create generational change.