DBS Foundation partners ImpactHK on The Kind Kitchen community project to serve the city’s underprivileged with food support

HONG KONG SAR - Media OutReach - 13 January 2023 - DBS Foundation, committed to championing social entrepreneurship and creating impact in the community, announced a two-year strategic partnership with ImpactHK to support The Kind Kitchen, a community kitchen to serve the underprivileged in need of food support. The Kind Kitchen will provide a total of 210,000 meals over the next two years to people experiencing homelessness. The partnership aims to create long-term impact on the Hong Kong communities in need by supporting people who experience homelessness and enhancing food resilience for the underprivileged.

(left) Jeff Rotmeyer, Founder & CEO of ImpactHK; (right) Amy Wu, Executive Director and Head of Group Strategic Marketing and Communications, DBS Bank Hong Kong

Food accounts for one-third of all solid waste in Hong Kong, with 3,255 tonnes of food waste being sent to landfills every day. In addition, 1.6 million people in the city are living in poverty and struggle to have access to a hot, healthy meal everyday. There was also a 19% increase in the number of registered street sleepers between 2020-2021, with the total number reaching a 10-year high in 2022. As a result, there is a need to dial up the efforts to deliver greater food resilience to the underprivileged and empower the growing number of people experiencing homelessness to build their own social capital.

Launched as part of DBS Foundation's Community Impact chapter, the partnership with ImpactHK's The Kind Kitchen aims to save and redistribute 40,000 kilograms of surplus food to those in need. With DBS Foundation's support, The Kind Kitchen will also be able to scale up its operation and share more food to the needy. In addition to tackling food waste and the food resilience concern, this partnership will also provide employment and training opportunities for people experiencing homelessness, helping them to build self-esteem and discover their life purpose and goals

Amy Wu, Executive Director and Head of Group Strategic Marketing and Communications of DBS Bank Hong Kong, said, "Sustainability has always been at the heart of DBS. To create impact beyond banking, we support social enterprises to scale up their business impact, and help community to improve life and livelihood and solve social challenges through DBS Foundation. By partnering with ImpactHK, we support The Kind Kitchen project to provide meals for underprivileged communities and create job opportunities for people experiencing homelessness. Through our partnership, we hope to build public awareness of social issues and activate our employees to drive change, impact, and serve the community."

Jeff Rotmeyer, Founder & CEO of ImpactHK, said, "It is our pleasure to partner with DBS Foundation on this meaningful initiative. The partnership will not only provide meals to the people experiencing homelessness and underprivileged communities but create a more inclusive community by helping them build self-esteem and discover life purpose and goals. With DBS Foundation's support, we can enhance our kitchen and scale up our ability to bring positive impact."

The city we call home is more than just a place to live and work. Let us all work together to support our community.

For more information to support and donate to ImpactHK, please visit https://impacthk.org/donate/

For more information about DBS Foundation, please visit https://www.dbs.com/foundation/default.page

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