Nourished for Nil humbled by donors after door damaged

The damaged door at the Nourished for Nil building along Karamu Rd in Hastings before it was fixed last week. Photo/ supplied.

The community rallied together in support of Nourished for Nil last week after the front door to its depot was damaged.

About $900 was donated to the non-for-profit food rescue organisation after founder Christina McBeth posted the news on its Facebook page.

Mrs McBeth said volunteers noticed the broken door last Sunday at the Karamu Rd building when they were moving things around.

"Things happen and you have to move on but it was jolly rude of the person who did it, like come on."

The group was understandably gutted and there was a road cone lying next to where the glass was smashed, which Mrs McBeth said was very coincidental.

"Someone was clearly bored and had too much time on their hands but it was pretty obvious it was deliberate not a stone flying up from the road."

The group needed to cover the $500 excess themselves and 36 hours after putting the post on Facebook about $900 had been donated.

One person alone donated $500.

"We were so humbled by the community's response. We had money donated through our givealittle page, our bank account and $500 from an anonymous donor, it was amazing."

Mrs McBeth said someone even came up to her off the street and handed her $10 after seeing the post.

The excess money donated has gone directly towards ongoing operational costs.

"It is awesome to see everyone get behind us and it means so much to our organisation."

On the Facebook post Mrs McBeth said this was unfortunate as usually everything they posted was positive and exciting.

"It sucks. It particularly sucks because we all work hard giving our time freely, to run Nourished for Nil on the smell of an oily rag. We don't have much money, and luckily so far, we don't need much.

"This is a service for our community, from our community."

Nourished for Nil which started in February, rescues food and redistributes it to anyone who wants or needs it, with a focus on zero waste.

The group started operating in Landmarks Square in Hastings before moving to the unused Tremains building along Karamu Rd in May.

Mrs McBeth said the group was looking forward to getting into the summer months after a steady winter.

"It's so rewarding the support we have received and a lot of people say to me 'isn't it hard not getting paid to work?' But no it's not, as I really enjoy what I'm doing so it doesn't really feel like a job."

Nourished for Nil redistributes unwanted food from 4.30pm-5.30pm on week days out of its building located next to the self-service Gull petrol station on Karamu Rd.