Embracing Opportunities
- admin1356
- Oct 17, 2025
- 2 min read
The Young Onset Dementia Collective jumped onboard the food truck business for a day, and won over a new fan.
Zero Food Waste Day occurs internationally on September 29, and this year happened to coincide with the YODC’s regular volunteer Monday at Fair Food.
To celebrate the UN recognised day, Fair Food organised for one of their community to bring their food truck along to the Fair Food warehouse to feed all the volunteers lunch.
Burchies Fried Chicken is the brainchild of Tom Burcher who is himself a regular volunteer at Fair Food. With a passion for food and zero waste, Tom launched his food truck business, Burchies Fried Chicken, just a few months ago.
For the YODC team, this created a new opportunity. As well as the regular meal prep for the community, they also assisted Tom in putting together lunch for the whole warehouse of volunteers.
With fried chicken, fried cauliflower bites and coleslaw on the menu, Tom put the team to work.
“I gave them (YODC volunteers) a really nuanced set of instructions and I was really pleased with the results,” says Tom.
No strangers to fine slicing, the YODC team prepared a finely shredded coleslaw and bite sized pieces of cauliflower ready for Tom to batter and deep fry.
Fair Food favourite Aussie Butcher New Lynn donated the chicken, and a delicious feast was had.
The YODC team is not the only group of volunteers at Fair Food on a Monday. The warehouse also has a large team sorting through supermarket donations, as well as a steady stream of visitors. But thanks to Tom and the YODC’s handy knife skills, no one went hungry.
Then after lunch, the YODC volunteers went straight back to work. After spending the morning prepping and cooking leek and potato soup, Mexican chilli and roast vegetable couscous salad, it was time to vaccuum seal the food, ready to feed the community.
Ka pai burchies.fried.chicken !!
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Getting help needed is a living challenge for the group behind Young Onset Dementia Collective.
If we wait for Government, Ministry of Health or under-funded agencies, it will be too little too late for our people.
For many the situation is dire. Help is needed NOW so we made a collective conscious decision to do everything we can to help ourselves. Spouses, partners, carers of people living with younger onset dementia have real life reasons driving combined determination.
Help us keep minds engaged and spirits lifted for those affected. Plus support carers in their financial, mental and wellbeing journey.
