Benefitting Society category

Macquarie University’s Food Hub is a holistic, student-focused initiative addressing rising food insecurity through free and low-cost food access, food literacy, and sustainable food redistribution. The program has evolved from a small breakfast service into a centralised hub offering grocery pick-ups, breakfast and lunch support, cooking workshops, exam-period dinners, Christmas hampers and seasonal support.

By combining immediate food relief with cooking skills, nutrition literacy, community connection and food waste reduction, the Macquarie University Food Hub demonstrates a scalable model for supporting student wellbeing while building more sustainable and resilient food systems.

Macquarie Univeristy – MQ Food Hub

Impacts & Benefits

  • Supported 3,345 unique students, delivering more than 20,420 Food Hub service engagements since 2025.
  • Enabled 14,492 grocery pick-up visits, providing students with consistent access to nutritious food and pantry staples.
  • Redistributed 2,610 kg of fresh produce and 1,320 loaves of bread, preventing edible food from going to landfill.
  • Generated more than $22,000 in rescued food value, delivering around four times the value of direct grocery spend per student visit.
  • Built food literacy and life skills, through cooking workshops, nutrition education and sustainable food-use activities.

 

Leadership & Engagement

  • Created a holistic food support model, combining groceries, meals, cooking workshops, food literacy and community connection.
  • Engaged a large delivery network, including around 70 Student Belonging Activators, 20 regular staff and 96 faculty staff contributing to Christmas hampers.
  • Built strong external partnerships, working with organisations such as Foodbank, One Fruit Box, Beyond Best Before, MILKLAB, Cocobella, KitKat and Vinnies.
  • Extended impact beyond campus, through a student-led cooking initiative with Vinnies that shares prepared meals with both students and the wider community.
  • Shifted food support from transactional relief to community building, creating spaces for cultural food exchange, shared meals and student connection.

 

Wider Societal Impact

  • Reduced food waste through rescue and redistribution, keeping safe surplus food in productive use and supporting more sustainable resource use.
  • Addressed student food insecurity, helping students access nutritious food so they can better focus on study, wellbeing and participation.
  • Built long-term student capability, with cooking and nutrition skills that students can carry into households, workplaces and communities.
  • Created a replicable model for learning providers, showing how universities can combine food relief, education, partnerships and volunteering.
  • Supported broader community need, with Vinnies collaboration extending the Food Hub’s impact beyond Macquarie University into the Sydney community.
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Top 3 learnings

  • Structured learning opportunities help students build knowledge on food waste and food safety.
  • Ongoing food support needs with around one-third of captured students returning five or more times.
  • Cooking workshops and collaboration have helped build confidence and nutrition literacy in students.

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Category finalists

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Benefitting Society category

Macquarie University’s Food Hub is a holistic, student-focused initiative addressing rising food insecurity through free and low-cost food access, food literacy, and sustainable food redistribution. The program has evolved from a small breakfast service into a centralised hub offering grocery pick-ups, breakfast and lunch support, cooking workshops, exam-period dinners, Christmas hampers and seasonal support.

By combining immediate food relief with cooking skills, nutrition literacy, community connection and food waste reduction, the Macquarie University Food Hub demonstrates a scalable model for supporting student wellbeing while building more sustainable and resilient food systems.

Top 3 learnings

  • Structured learning opportunities help students build knowledge on food waste and food safety.
  • Ongoing food support needs with around one-third of captured students returning five or more times.
  • Cooking workshops and collaboration have helped build confidence and nutrition literacy in students.

Impacts & Benefits

  • Supported 3,345 unique students, delivering more than 20,420 Food Hub service engagements since 2025.
  • Enabled 14,492 grocery pick-up visits, providing students with consistent access to nutritious food and pantry staples.
  • Redistributed 2,610 kg of fresh produce and 1,320 loaves of bread, preventing edible food from going to landfill.
  • Generated more than $22,000 in rescued food value, delivering around four times the value of direct grocery spend per student visit.
  • Built food literacy and life skills, through cooking workshops, nutrition education and sustainable food-use activities.

 

Leadership & Engagement

  • Created a holistic food support model, combining groceries, meals, cooking workshops, food literacy and community connection.
  • Engaged a large delivery network, including around 70 Student Belonging Activators, 20 regular staff and 96 faculty staff contributing to Christmas hampers.
  • Built strong external partnerships, working with organisations such as Foodbank, One Fruit Box, Beyond Best Before, MILKLAB, Cocobella, KitKat and Vinnies.
  • Extended impact beyond campus, through a student-led cooking initiative with Vinnies that shares prepared meals with both students and the wider community.
  • Shifted food support from transactional relief to community building, creating spaces for cultural food exchange, shared meals and student connection.

 

Wider Societal Impact

  • Reduced food waste through rescue and redistribution, keeping safe surplus food in productive use and supporting more sustainable resource use.
  • Addressed student food insecurity, helping students access nutritious food so they can better focus on study, wellbeing and participation.
  • Built long-term student capability, with cooking and nutrition skills that students can carry into households, workplaces and communities.
  • Created a replicable model for learning providers, showing how universities can combine food relief, education, partnerships and volunteering.
  • Supported broader community need, with Vinnies collaboration extending the Food Hub’s impact beyond Macquarie University into the Sydney community.

Supported by

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Category finalists