20 March 2025

Suncorp Bank helps OzHarvest provide an extra 100,000 meals to communities impacted by ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred

4 min read

As the clean-up from ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred continues across Southeast Queensland and Northern New South Wales, Suncorp Bank is supporting its community partner and leading Australian food rescue organisation, OzHarvest, to get back on the road.

Suncorp Bank CEO, Bruce Rush noted, “With prolonged power outages and damage from floodwaters in low-lying communities, several local households are now experiencing food insecurity”.

“As ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred approached Southeast Queensland last week, almost three quarters of our Suncorp Bank workforce lived in its predicted path, making those people impacted most by this extreme weather event our neighbours and fellow community members,” Bruce Rush said.  

The current high cost of living and already tight household budgets, mean those impacted now face the prospect of trying to find enough spare money to not only replace spoiled or wasted food, but potentially damaged essential household goods. 

Thanks to Suncorp Bank’s generous donation, for the next six weeks, OzHarvest will increase its food rescue program to impacted communities in Brisbane, Gold Coast, Ipswich, Logan, Toowoomba, Caboolture, and Sunshine Coast. Getting meals and fresh food to those Aussies who need it most. 

This will enable OzHarvest to help rescue an additional 5,000 kilograms of food each week and deliver it to more than 150 charities across affected regions.

Emmanuel City Mission in Brisbane is one such charity receiving the extra food relief, their Operations Manager, Tim Noonan, shared:

"OzHarvest is critical in helping us provide nutritious meals to vulnerable people every day. With their food rescue support, we've doubled our daily impact while ensuring a hot meal every day for those in need. As a fully community-funded and volunteer-run initiative, we rely on OzHarvest to keep up with growing demand, feeding hundreds daily." 

“As a leading community partner for the past two years, at Suncorp Bank we know how effective OzHarvest is at redirecting great quality rescued food to those people who need it most”, Bruce Rush said. 

OzHarvest Founder, Ronni Kahn AO, is grateful for the additional support: 

“Thanks to Suncorp Bank’s fantastically rapid response, we will be able to rescue and store more food in our Brisbane and Gold Coast hubs, as well as enable us to roster extra logistics staff to facilitate additional food pick up and drop offs to our partner charities, which is so needed at this challenging time”

Already a regular participant in OzHarvest’s Cooking for a Cause program, Suncorp Bank will also increase the number of volunteers for the next five weeks, to help cook and deliver delicious, pre-cooked meals to those in need. 

For more information on how you can support OzHarvest, visit ozharvest.org with every $1 donated providing 2 nourishing meals to people in need.