Somewhere in Ho Chi Minh City tonight, a hotel buffet will close with trays of untouched food. Across town, a shelter will be working out how to stretch dinner for one more person. VietHarvest exists to connect those two moments, and this autumn it is asking the rest of Vietnam to help it do so at scale.
The food rescue organisation has launched Nourish Tomorrow 2026, a nationwide campaign running from September 14 to October 31. The dates are deliberate. The campaign is built around two global markers on the calendar: the International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste on September 29 and World Food Day on October 16. The idea is to take the awareness those days generate and turn it into something practical on the ground in Vietnam.
The Problem Hiding In Plain Sight
Food waste rarely makes the list when people talk about the climate crisis, yet it belongs near the top. Globally, an estimated 1.05 billion tonnes of food were wasted in 2022, and food loss and waste together account for roughly 8 to 10 percent of greenhouse gas emissions. That is more than the entire aviation industry.
In Vietnam the paradox is sharper still. The country's hospitality and retail sectors produce large volumes of quality surplus food every day, much of it discarded while still perfectly safe to eat. At the same time, thousands of people in orphanages, shelters and low-income communities live with food insecurity.
"Food rescue is climate action, community building and human care rolled into one," says Amélie Huynh Le Maux, VietHarvest Lead. "This is a call to action for all of Vietnam."
How VietHarvest Works
VietHarvest's model is straightforward and borrowed from proven playbooks. It draws on the international framework of OzHarvest, Australia's pioneering food rescue charity, and the local social enterprise experience of KOTO, the Hanoi-founded hospitality training programme for disadvantaged youth.
The organisation collects surplus food free of charge from hotels, restaurants and food retailers before it reaches the bin. That food is then turned into safe, nutritious meals and provisions delivered directly to charities and community groups.
The numbers are starting to add up. Since 2022, VietHarvest has rescued 98,521 kilograms of food and delivered 197,042 meals. Nourish Tomorrow is designed to accelerate that pace.
Give, Educate, Engage
The campaign is organised around three words: Give, Educate and Engage. Each maps to a different way of taking part.
Give is the simplest. VietHarvest has set a clear conversion that anyone can understand: every USD 1, or VND 25,000, helps deliver one additional meal. That is roughly the price of a coffee.
Educate covers the awareness work built into the campaign, including content pegged to the two international days and a partner toolkit that lets businesses, schools and community groups share campaign messages in Vietnamese and English on their own channels.
Engage is where companies come in. VietHarvest has opened its full campaign strategy and proposal deck to businesses that want to participate, and it is inviting corporate teams to book its signature activations. Cooking For A Cause brings teams into the kitchen to prepare rescued food into meals for distribution, while Hamper For A Cause has teams assemble food hampers for communities in need. Both double as team building and CSR programmes with a tangible outcome at the end of the day.
A Menu Of Ways To Join
The partner toolkit shows how flexible participation can be. Hotels can invite guests to add a voluntary USD 1 donation to their stay. Restaurants and cafes can offer the same at the bill or at checkout. Retailers can build the ask into the payment counter. Schools can rally students, parents, teachers and alumni around a fundraising or learning activity. Companies can make a direct contribution, match employee donations or open the campaign to clients and partners.
For those who prefer to lend their voice rather than their wallet, media and awareness partners are encouraged to share the campaign, and chefs, business leaders and influencers are being invited to put their names behind it.
Why This Moment Matters
Vietnam's food and hospitality scene has grown into one of the most dynamic in Southeast Asia, and with that growth comes responsibility. The surplus created by a booming industry can either become a climate liability or a community resource. Nourish Tomorrow is a bet that enough businesses and individuals will choose the latter if the path is made easy enough.
The campaign runs until October 31. More information, the partner form and donation links are available at vietharvest.com.