The beginnings

In November 2011 Brook Turner from Zeal and Blueprint church in Wellington came and spoke at No Spin Zone, our young adults group. He told us about The Free Store, originally set up by artist Kim Patton, and then taken or as a permanent project by a team from Blueprint. The free store in and of itself is not a new concept, just one that is making a reappearance due to tough financial times. Not only that but there is a huge amount of wasted food everyday, from bakeries, cafes, supermarkets... the list goes on and on. I thought about the whole concept and found that over the next week or so I kept thinking about tho idea, and in particular, about having a free store in Palmy. Eventually I stopped and asked "God, is that you?" I talked to a few people and someone encouraged me to 'spread the fleece' so to say. I asked God to being me people, if this is His will, 'cause it's not something I want to take on by myself. James contacted me about a week or so later saying he was keen to be involved. And thus the Palmy free store was born.

James and I met a number of times and started planning and thinking and praying. We even took a trip down to Wellington to see their set-up. Then early in 2011 Heather came on board and we started having serious meetings - with minutes and everything. We even come up a name, Just Zilch. We decided we couldn't use 'zilch' on its own because that's the name of an ice-cream and we don't want any legal complications. Since then we've written a business plan, been donated a building, started getting suppliers and volunteers. Now things are snowballing. God is so amazing and so faithful.

On top of all that I've been delivering left-over bread and other bits to families who need it. There has been so many cool stories, but more on that next time.