RMIT Vietnam Alumni and VietHarvest join forces to provide support for children via Food Drive
RMIT Vietnam Alumni partnered with VietHarvest to organize the Food Drive project, supported by Annam Gourmet at the Saigon South Campus, to collect dry food donations for children in shelters across Ho Chi Minh City.
On September 19th, RMIT University Vietnam celebrated the Festival of Social Impact, featuring a series of social initiatives at the Saigon South Campus. This festival highlighted the university’s commitment to achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals through partnerships with industry, transformative research, and innovative teaching. The Food Drive was one of the key projects showcased during the event.
Food Drive is an initiative of VietHarvest, which is rooted in OzHarvest, a social organization in Australia that focuses on tackling food waste and supporting underserved people. From September 16th to 20th, RMIT Vietnam Alumni played a key role in spreading awareness about this initiative at the Saigon South Campus, using a uniquely designed mini truck to engage students and staff on campus.
At the Food Drive booth, donors could place their dry food donations into the truck, write heartfelt messages to the children, and take photos with the truck. In support of the project, Annam Gourmet sponsored 50 shopping vouchers awarded to lucky donors through a lucky draw game with the message “The more you give, the more you receive.”
Annam Gourmet plays a key role as the food voucher sponsor for the project to amplify its impact in a more exciting way.
To further engage donors, from September 16th to 17th, RMIT students, staff, and alumni visiting the booth were given wooden lantern kits and watercolor sets to paint and assemble. These lanterns will be later gifted to our children in the celebration of the Mid-Autumn Festival. A total of 50 lanterns were beautifully decorated and delivered to the Center for Rehabilitation and Support for Children with Disabilities.
Food donors who joined hands in making lanterns for children on the Mid-Autumn Festival.
By the end of the project week, around 300 kilograms of dry foods such as canned foods, snacks, biscuits, rice, and grains were donated by the RMIT community and distributed to three shelters in partnership with VietHarvest. These shelters include the Binh Trieu Development Center, Binh Tho Development Center, and Social Work and Youth Vocational Training Center of HCMC.
Through this initiative, approximately 575 children received both lanterns and food, which contributes to the broader campaign named ‘Sạch Sành Sanh’ that aims to promote sustainable development in businesses and engage the RMIT Vietnam Alumni community with a wider community.
View the project photo album here: Food Drive by RMIT x VietHarvest