Four Square St Johns supports City Mission foodbank and give out sweet treats

Trin McCarthy is asking for the painted rocks to be returned to the store and people will receive a free icecream. Photo / Supplied

Four Square St Johns is supporting the City Mission foodbank, and giving people a sweet treat as well.

During the school holidays Four Square St Johns hid painted rocks by Virginia Lake. When a child found a rock and returned it to the shop, they received a free icecream, co-owner Trin McCarthy says.

"It went very well. It generated a lot of interest. The kids would be so proud that they had found one of the special rocks, and were even more pleased when they were rewarded with an icecream for their efforts.

"Tip Top actually donated us some icecream for this which we are grateful for."

As well as receiving a free icecream, each time they returned a rock, they were helping the City Mission Whanganui Foodbank.

"Each time a rock was returned, we added more stock to our donation for the foodbank. As we work in the food industry and we see the good the foodbank does, we like to regularly donate to them."

Supporting the foodbank is important, she says.

"In the last few years, especially with the Covid-19 pandemic, the foodbank has been under the pump to help people."

This is the second time the store has run the rock-finding event.

"Last year was the first time we ran the event and we ended up donating nearly $1000 worth of stock to the foodbank. We want to match that this year."

Although the rock-finding event was for the school holidays, people still have a chance to support the foodbank and receive a free icecream, Trin says.

"We had 70 rocks painted for this but we're missing quite a few. When we ran this event last year, we had the same problem of people keeping the rocks instead of returning them.

"We're asking for all rocks to be returned, and the person will receive a free icecream as well. All they have to do is bring the rock back to Four Square St Johns."