Recently, we spoke to Joe Youssef the CEO of All Heart NZ Charitable Trust about how All Heart NZ supports charities around Aotearoa, such as Habitat for Humanity Central North Island.
All Heart NZ exists to support community groups and the creation of sustainable charitable funding. It achieves this through partnerships with private sector business – providing a one-stop solution to corporates to dispose of their redundant or unwanted items, redirecting, reselling, repurposing and recycling. This includes redirecting items to Habitat. In Habitat’s case, it on-sells the goods through ReStores to help raise funds for housing need.
Joe said Habitat’s work aligns with All Heart NZ’s priorities and values and is a “perfect example” of a sustainability framework in action.
“The inequality around housing affects every area of a person’s life and is, unfortunately, one of the leading causes of poverty in New Zealand – so your core purpose is very much in line with our core purpose. I love working with Habitat across the country.”
“We exist to support community groups and the creation of sustainable charitable funding, which is what your ReStores achieve. Your stores exist not only to support their function, they exist also to support the core purpose of Habitat as a charity, which is the relief of poverty through homes.”
“Habitat is a good example of a circular economy solution. A linear economy is when you buy an item, use it, and dump it. A circular economy means that you buy the item, but you think of ‘what I am going to do with it’ after you have used it.”
“Rather than those items going to landfill, which is linear, they are reused, or repurposed.”
“An example would be a whiteboard purchased for a boardroom repurposed in a kid’s room for art. A table meeting table, that finds a second life as a dining room table. It is being reused for another reason, and of course, in that process Habitat has raised some money.”
Joe also says that measuring the impact of a full circle economy can be difficult.
“But it is huge. It’s much bigger than the immediate savings or funds raised. You have raised the money, but because of that money, you can then build housing. This is all through redundant stuff that people are throwing away, usually.”
With freight company partnerships all around New Zealand, Joe said the All Heart NZ collection service costs a business no more than sending the items to landfill – they organise the logistics, inventory, reports back and find positive charitable and circular economy solutions for these redundant items.
“We are a one-stop solution for corporate sustainability we take anything and everything and find sustainable homes.”
All Heart NZ has diverted 857,575kgs of redundant corporate equipment since it began in October 2016. The direct financial assistance provided by All Heart NZ to community groups through redirecting corporate furniture and IT is estimated at $2,459,774.
If you would like to contact All Heart NZ, you can go to www.allheartnz.org.nz or phone 09 390 5767
____________________________________________________________________________
Habitat responds to housing poverty across New Zealand with a range of programmes including assisted home ownership, rental properties and a home repair service. Internationally, Habitat New Zealand has a focus on the pacific and has projects underway in Samoa, Tonga and Fiji providing disaster resilience and rebuild to those effected by weather events.
Habitat for Humanity Central North Island appreciates the support of organisations, such as All Heart NZ. If your organisation is interested in supporting Habitat for Humanity Central North Island through donations, or volunteering, contact us by phoning 07-849 7707, or email[email protected].
