FEEDING 2020 - SOS RESCUE KITCHEN IN PHUKET

Who are we

In 2012, the Bo Holmgreen foundation was founded in the United States, and by 2016 the name changed to Scholars of Sustenance, and the first operation was established in Bangkok.  In 2017 Scholars of Sustenance was established in Bali, Indonesia, and then to Phuket, Thailand.  Scholars of Sustenance Foundation are the food rescue foundation, serving the land, the people, and the spirit.  We rescue the food before it ends up in landfills reducing carbon emissions, we provided nutritious sustenance to underprivileged members in the community, sustaining a healthy body and mind, and generate hope where little previously existed.

Ultimately by impacting the way we think in culture and industries, Scholars of Sustenance believe we can change the fundamental access to food. No longer only commercial and by means of money only, but an industry supply model including those left out before. We call this FOOD EQUITY.

Today we have 20 staff including a designated Food Safety Specialist, 5 refrigerated trucks, and 2 dry trucks across Bangkok and Phuket.  We work with 90+ individual donors in the hospitality, retail, and manufacturer sector and donate to more 120 underprivileged recipient communities.  We are also currently in the early stages of trialing drone delivery to 17 remote inaccessible communities in Northern Thailand, essentially cut off during the rainy season.  We deliver safe and nutritious rescued meals for a cost as low as 5 baht.

For who we are make a donation for

As Scholars of Sustenance Foundation (SOS) is an operation-based foundation, we conduct operational activities in areas around each base. In this project, we will be focusing on two types of operation in Phuket: Food Rescue Operation and SOS Rescue Kitchen. Food Rescue Operation focuses on collecting surplus food from food businesses around Phuket and donate to communities in need, while SOS Rescue Kitchen focuses on precise distribution methods by freshly cook nutritionally balanced meals for communities in need. Both operations share the same ultimate goal, to prevent food waste production and provide sustenance for communities in need.

Currently, our operation in Phuket has reached up to 42 communities in need, which is equivalent to approximately 2,956 people to date.

How will we use money

The money will be spent on creating and maintenance of food rescue infrastructural system in Phuket. As much as we believe there is plenty of surplus food constantly being thrown away throughout food supply chains, we also believe good logistic operations will do the trick in balancing the distribution of surplus food to make sure they reach the hands in need. This way, much more food (potentially much higher quality in many cases) can be provided to more people at less cost.

Simply put, we will use the money to operate trucks that will run collecting surplus food 7 days/week and while most will be donated within the same day, some of the captured food will be used to SOS Rescue Kitchen.

Why this is important

In Thailand, it is estimated to have around 17.9 million tons/year in 2019 of food waste going to the landfills. While there were probably 62 Million meals that could have been rescued to redistribute to the people in need. The food rescue project, therefore, was introduced to rescue edible food from hospitality businesses, restaurants, and supermarkets every day since 2016. Today SOS redistributes the surplus food from businesses around Bangkok and Phuket around 4,000 meals a day to the community and charitable institutions regardless of differences, so that they have enough food to survive at least 3-4 days a week. Even so, there should further researches and programs to do to truly improve the way we redistribute the food and maximize the potential of this mission to make a change in people’s lives.

Thank you

Our gratefulness for your support would not stop here at the success of this project, since your support will help us spread the awareness on the value of surplus food for communities in need. Your support will help us highlight the potential of surplus food and inspire more people to take part in extracting surplus food from food businesses to help more people. We sincerely hope your support, starting with this project, will take this country far and beyond with its long-term impact.

World Food Day in Phuket

After making an amazing record and cooking 20,000 nutritious meals to one municipality last month, our SOS Phuket Team broke another record and cooked 75,000 nutritious meals at the World Food Day celebration. With more than a hundred volunteers across 6 different kitchen locations, these meals were served in many different vulnerable communities from three municipalities in Phuket. Such a massive community feeding aimed to address #FoodSecurity in the province.
This Rescue Kitchen Program in Phuket that was just launched last August has been #ServingHope and feeding many communities that are heavily affected by the decimation of the tourism industry.

The success of the Rescue Kitchen Program was made possible by many community volunteers who cooked and prepared the meals all day, our partners from DoubleTree by Hilton Phuket Banthai Resort who opened their kitchen and let their staff cook also, assistance from the local government, and the coverage of local media to spread the news about the World Food Day.

พวกเราร่วมกับ DoubleTree by Hilton Phuket Banthai Resort เปิดตัวครัวรักษ์อาหารแห่งที่สองในเกาะภูเก็ตผ่านการให้ใช้สถานที่ครัวโรงแรมในการปรุงอาหารและนำไปส่งต่อให้ชุมชน โดยกิจกรรมเมื่อวานนำโดยคุณ Tim Tate และเชฟ ธนาวุธ พร้อมกับทีมอาสาชุมชน 13 คน ได้ทำซุปไก่ร้อนๆและไก่ผัดผักพร้อมข้าวสวยนและนำไปส่งต่อให้กับชุมชน ฉลอง ได้มากถึง 1,000 มื้อ หรือ เท่ากับอาหารปริมาณ 240 กก. ซึ่งเป็นหนึ่งในชุมชนที่ได้รับผลกระทบจากสภาวะการตกงานเนื่องจากการระบาดของโรคโควิด-19 ในช่วงเวลาก่อนหน้านี้พวกเราได้ร่วมมือกับโรงแรมดับเบิ้ล ทรี ฮิลตัน ภูเก็ต ในการให้บริจาคอาหารส่วนเกินให้กับพวกเราเพื่อนำไปส่งต่อให้กับชุมชน แทนที่จะปล่อยให้อาหารดีมีคุณภาพเหล่านั้นถูกทิ้งลงในหลุมฝังกลบ ในช่วงวิกฤติแบบนี้แม้ว่าสภาพการทำงานของพวกเราจะเปลี่ยนไปแต่ความร่วมมือที่มีให้กันยังมีไม่เปลี่ยน ทางมูลนิธิสโกลารส์ ออฟ ซัสทีแนนซ์ ประเทศไทย ขอขอบคุณ โรงแรมดับเบิ้ลทรี ฮิลตัน ภูเก็ต ที่เป็นหนึ่งในผู้ขับเคลื่นความช่วยเหลือไปพร้อมกับพวกเราที่ภูเก็ต ถ้าหากว่ามี โรงแรมหรือร้านอาหารใด สนใจที่จะร่วมทำงานกับพวกเราในการทำครัวรักษ์อาหารปรุงอาหารเพื่อชุมชน หรืออยากอาสาช่วยในการทำงานของพวกเรา สามารถติดต่อพวกเราได้เลย!

เว็บไซต์: Scholarsofsustenance.org

เบอร์โทร: 062-675-0004

อีเมลล์: info@scholarsofsustenance.org

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Our amazing partnership from DoubleTree by Hilton Phuket Banthai Resort has opened their kitchen to SOS yesterday and started helping us with our Rescue Kitchen Program. GM Tim Tate and Chef Thanavoot Srilardlao led a group of 13 volunteers from the hotel and cooked 1000 meals (240kgs) and were distributed to Chalong Community which has a lot of people who lost their jobs during this pandemic. They cooked chicken soup, fried chicken with vegetables, and rice.Double Tree Hilton Phuket has been our partner in Phuket, providing us their food surplus so they not only help eliminate food waste but also helping the community in need. They have also committed to continuing helping us with our Rescue Kitchen Program. Thank you for your continued support to SOS Phuket and to the people of the island!If any other hotel or restaurant would be willing to open their kitchen to SOS so we can cook for the community, or if your team would like to cook for the community, please contact us. We want to feed as many communities in need of nutritious food during this time.

Website: https://www.scholarsofsustenance.org/feeding2020thailand

Phone: 062-675-0004

Email: info@scholarsofsustenance.org