Christchurch mum 'overwhelmed' by kind act at New World

Jenny Pascoe (centre) was helped when she was struggling at the supermarket with her baby Olli by Jessica and Wendy Hodgkinson. Photo / Geoff Sloan

It is a nightmare many parents with newborn babies may be familiar with.

Halswell resident Jenny Pascoe was shopping at Halswell New World with her six-week-old son Olli when he started to scream. Miss Pascoe was trying to calm Olli down in one arm and shop with the other.

This is when fellow Halswell residents Wendy Hodgkinson and her teenage daughter Jessica stepped in.

Said Mrs Hodgkinson: "I saw her when he was crying and I thought 'oh, the poor dear'. Then I saw that she was trying to carry him and push her trolly and I just said to my daughter 'you grab her trolly, hon, I'll whip this through and then I'll meet you and we'll give her a hand."

They then loaded the groceries into Miss Pascoe's car and Mrs Hodgkinson gave her a hug and sent her on her way. Miss Pascoe said she was "overwhelmed" by their kind act.

"I was absolutely blown away, It was such a nice feeling. I'm just overwhelmed really that someone would actually do that. Most people just don't, they kind of just look and feel sorry for you and just keep walking."

Miss Pascoe said she didn't get their names at the time, so posted about what Mrs Hodgkinson and her daughter had done on the Halswell Community Group Facebook page to try and find them.

Mrs Hodgkinson saw the post, which received more than 1000 likes, and got in touch with Miss Pascoe, who expressed her gratitude.

Said Miss Pascoe: "I basically just thanked her again and said thank you so much for your help. Coming from someone that doesn't like to ask for help very often I really appreciated it and you made a sleep-deprived mother's day."

Mrs Hodgkinson said she often carried out random acts of kindness to give back to her community and encourage her family to do the same.

"I didn't do it to get kudos, I didn't do it for a newspaper article, I did it because it was the right thing to do."

- Starnews.co.nz