The re-emergence of food rescue service OzHarvest has provided welcome relief for charities in Canberra after calls for its return were answered.
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The Communities@Work yellow van had been providing rescued food to charities to feed needy people in the ACT.
About 18 months ago, several charities reported less food coming through the doors and they were asked to pay an administration fee for the food being delivered.
St John's Care director Sue Jordan said she was among a group which implored OzHarvest, a different food rescue service, to operate in Canberra.
Ms Jordan believed the change to the Communities@Work service was a result of them prioritising their own agencies.
"We just weren't getting what we needed so then we asked OzHarvest if they could make it more equitable," she said.
"We knew there was still food out there, and obviously it was too much for the Yellow Van to handle."
Ms Jordan said the free food delivery service was invaluable during winter as the need for emergency food spiked as families were forced to prioritise paying bills over food.
OzHarvest founder Ronni Kahn said the organisation had received calls not only from charities but food donors whose surplus food was no longer being collected.
"We rescue food for free and deliver it for free, and we do it on a daily basis," she said.
"Our job is to actually make sure good food doesn't go to waste, to actually minimise the whole issue of food security."
Communities@Work chief executive officer Lynne Harwood said recent changes to the Yellow Van were made as the previous format was unsustainable.
"We've restructured the whole model because we've grown to be servicing the vulnerable clients in a myriad of ways," she said.
"Costs had blown out and also, often the costs of collecting a single plate of sandwiches … was prohibitive."
Ms Harwood said the organisation now collected and cooked raw food to produce meals, which were distributed throughout its networks.
Both spokeswomen denied suggestions of tension between the food rescue organisations, Ms Jordan said that OzHarvest had successfully picked up the slack left by the Yellow Van restructure.
"We have established being able to provide fresh fruit and vegetables to our clients - we were probably the first to do that in Canberra – and being able to continue doing that is fantastic," she said
