Just Zilch volunteer Marita Te Oka provides a customer a selection of rescued food. Two customers can be served at once in the efficient process. Photo / Judith Lacy
Just Zilch volunteer Marita Te Oka provides a customer a selection of rescued food. Two customers can be served at once in the efficient process. Photo / Judith Lacy
It's a story Rebecca Culver has told before and will tell again.
At its simplest, the story is Just Zilch offers free rescued food to everyone. It is not a foodbank. There is no eligibility criteria or judgment.
"We rescue food and I would rather anyone eat that food rather than having it go to waste," the Just Zilch managing director says.
When a man calling himself Concerned Ratepayer posted on a popular Facebook page that "parents with their children are forced the indignity of lining up in front of everyone in the cold wet dark to get some food all day", he received a lot of support.
Concerned Ratepayer questioned why Just Zilch is on the busiest intersection in Palmerston North, "surely the PNCC has better sites available".
Culver agrees the Featherston St premises opposite Palmerston North Boys' High School are not ideal, but the city council provides them for a peppercorn rent.
The council has landbanked the property, allowing it to one day create a free left-hand turn from Featherston St into Rangitīkei St, she says.
The initial lease was for three to five years, but Just Zilch has been there six and a half years. It outgrew the building about three years ago. There has been a huge increase in the number of community groups to which Just Zilch delivers rescued food, and which then distribute it among clients.
The space that was the shop where customers could look at the rescued food available has been taken over for storage and processing. Instead, customers are now given a tray with items on it they can look through on a trestle table outside the shop.
This system still gives people dignity and mana in choosing which food they would like, Culver says.
Just Zilch also has off-site storage provided by Norwood for pallets of food, "which is super-generous".
Culver would love to find larger yet affordable premises in the central city. "We really do need a bigger building, but finding one has been difficult and not forthcoming."
Culver, who founded Just Zilch 11 years ago, says many of the Facebook comments were based on false assumptions. One was that Just Zilch wanted cheap rent so it had more money to buy food.
However, it does not buy food. Ninety per cent is rescued food that would have otherwise gone to the landfill.
Another assumption was people always have to queue. This was incorrect, especially near closing time. Some people who line up before opening time think they will get the best food, but food is delivered throughout the day, she says.
Culver has seen few people try to hide their faces, and the reasons they do so could be many. "It's cold, I'd be hiding my face too."
Someone suggested a canopy could be set up to keep people dry, but Just Zilch doesn't lease the footpath or neighbouring alleyway where the line sometimes extends.
Some Facebook commenters were concerned about drivers waiting at the lights staring at Just Zilch customers, while others said they had gone to Just Zilch on behalf of others so making assumptions about people in the queue are just that, assumptions.
Culver reiterates people don't have to be in dire straits or on a low income to get food from Just Zilch.
"At the end of the day, we want to rescue food. It doesn't matter what you look like, it doesn't matter how you dress, it doesn't matter how much money you have in your bank account if we are talking about rescuing food."
In the year to June 30, Just Zilch provided 53,502 food parcels through its shop - 342,962kg of food equivalent to 979,892 meals.
During the same period five years ago, it provided 35,379 food parcels - 126,732kg of food.
"It's grown a little bit, maybe a bit of an understatement."
In the year to June 30, it provided community groups with 270,062kg of food - equivalent to 771,605 meals.
The items this reporter received from Just Zilch on Monday as a whānau of one. Photo / Judith Lacy
About 90 per cent of its food is donated by cafes, supermarkets, caterers, food producers and distributors.
The rest comes from the New Zealand Food Network, which was established in 2020. The Ministry of Social Development funds some of the food the hub distributes to get more food into the community.
Marita Te Oka has been volunteering at Just Zilch for nearly three years. She greets customers with "come on up love" and "how many love".
She loves the role and the people. "I've got a lot of friends and I don't know half their names."
Customers will say hello when she sees them around town.
She went to Just Zilch one day to get some food and asked if they needed help.
Culver says a new building needs to have space for a waiting area, shop, storage, prep space, staff room, offices, and a garage door at least 500sq m. "Wouldn't it be fantastic to have room where everyone could come in and wait?"
