Ray White Hotels Asia Pacific Managing Director, Andrew Jolliffe, will once again line up against some of the nation’s top chefs and CEOs in this year’s OzHarvest CEO CookOff on Monday 7 March, aimed at increasing awareness on food insecurity, homelessness and food wastage in Australia.
The event is now in its fifth year and Jolliffe said he was thrilled to be a part of a cause that is close to his heart for the second time.
“I find the thought of the sheer desperation and hopelessness hungry kids in this country must feel, an absolutely abhorrent concept,” he said.
“The people involved in the OzHarvest organisation, from the indefatigable Ronni Khan, right down to the volunteers who regularly lend their time to the movement, are so inspirational.”
The event will see 50 of Australia’s top chefs (including Matt Moran, Neil Perry, Guillaume Brahimi and many more) team up with 150 CEOs from across the country to feed up to 1,300 homeless and vulnerable Australians.
Asked what his cooking specialty will be on the night, Jolliffe said he just wants to complete the CookOff without losing a finger.
“As for the dish we’ll cook on the night, I’m prepared to take firm instruction from Matt Moran or Guillaume Brahimi or whoever is shouting at me the loudest,” he said.
The OzHarvest CEO CookOff is the food-rescue organisation’s flagship annual event, and in its fifth year has raised more than $4 million dollars. Its goal this year is to raise another $1.5million.
As for Jolliffe’s game plan, he says it’s two fold: “Raise awareness. Raise money. In that order.
“I’m so grateful for the support of colleagues and clients who have already made commitments to support what is going on here,” he said.
“It’s clearly great to raise money for such a worthwhile initiative, but without also raising the awareness of the issue central to the movement (namely the better utilization of existing resources: financial, human and product) to crush the absurdity of hungry kids in Australia; then I will have failed in meeting my objective.”