Dee Glentworth (bottom left) and her team of volunteers and workers at Free For All in Porirua. Photo: Supplied
The Founder of Wellington sharing store Free For All says an outpouring of community support has helped the charity find the tools to revive itself after security concerns led to its closure.
Dee Glentworth shut the doors of her Porirua-based showroom in January after nine years of giving out donated goods, appliances and clothing to people in need.
Glentworth said she could no longer ensure her staff's safety amid repeated instances of abuse and intimidation. In three weeks of business this year the store had to call police six times.
Discussion prompted by coverage of the closure had brought new volunteers to the charity and prompted a reassessment of the organisation and its structure, Glentworth said.
"It made us look up because people were sharing their stories with us. We had to find a way to keep going for all the people that took the time to get in touch and say 'hey don't give up'."
On the announcement of the closure, Greater Wellington Regional councillor David Lee said he would step up to become a board of trustees member to help steer the charity towards better times and Glentworth said - after five weeks of behind the scenes work - she was nervous but excited to be able to get back to helping people on Tuesday.
"There's been a lot of soul searching as in 'why are we doing this, why am I doing this, is it time to walk away?' [But] the thought of a world without this - especially with the feedback that we were getting - it became a responsibility to find a way to make it work and I think the team really got into that and saw the positive impact we were having on everyday people," Glentworth said.
At Free for All in Porirua, donated goods, appliances and clothing are given away in exchange for a $5 entry fee to cover costs. Photo: RNZ / Supplied
Allan Johnson and wife Vanessa read of the store's trouble and put their hands up to help work on areas that needed strengthening.
Johnson said he would work to free up Glentworth and assist with staff training and hiring while Vanessa would use her experience as the chairperson of education and language skills provider Kiwi Class to help solidify Free For All's governance structure.
"The reason why she closed was for safety but so much was coming back on her it must've been very overwhelming. [Free For All] went from 12,000 people coming in a year to 50,000 and that's just phenomenal growth," Johnson said.
He said the store's handful of volunteers were struggling to front up to demand on a day-to-day basis.
"It is a major business now. There won't be a lot of [small] businesses in Porirua at the moment that will be doing 50,000 people through their doors. We have to increase the number of volunteers, we have to look for funding to actually pay the staff that we need to pay and we need to look at our premises to make sure they're fit for purpose. There's a lot of work that needs to be done in the next two to four months to get this back on board," Johnson said.
Photo: RNZ / Supplied
Johnson said he was inspired by the store's mission to cut down on needless landfill while supporting families going through tough times.
"We all know that in New Zealand at the moment there is a huge amount of poverty and it was such a huge shame that, for want of that support, it was going to close. I rang Dee and I just said to her 'you've got me for as long as want me'. My wife and I met with her and we started working through a support plan to make sure it can remain open. It's so important. We're talking about people who pay $5 to get maybe a couple of hundred of dollars of clothes. It's absolutely fabulous," Johnson said.
He said he felt the move to reopen the store from its current Porirua location was "brave" but plans had been put in place including Māori wardens to assist with parking and extra staff on the day to make the reopening a success.
Glentworth said the work would make the charity stronger than it ever was.
"We've made plans and it's kind of like a wedding kind of again. Honestly, we're just really excited. Stupidly so, it's crazy. It's like we haven't run a store before and we're launching with a lot more confidence.
"If you let the bad experiences that you have define what Free For All is then you're just not doing it justice. You have to go 'how do you make this a good thing?'," she said.