Pay it Forward paying off

When Maxine Hornell moved to Nelson with her two young daughters and not much else, she says the help and support of Nelson people helped her get back on feet.
Now she wants to “pay it forward”.
In the wake of April’s floods, Maxine established a Pay it Forward Facebook page, aimed at helping people who had lost so much. The idea was simple, any unwanted goods were donated to her and her team of helpers and those who needed it came and picked up what they wanted. No money exchanged hands from any of the three parties.
She says the response was almost instant and amazing. So much so that she has decided to continue it from their new base in Tahunanui.
“There’s a need out there because we get so many people coming in. Just today [last Thursday] we had heaps of people through and we weren’t even going to open today.”
Donated goods range from baby clothes to blankets to fridges and even one piano. Maxine says the items in most demand are warm clothes, blankets and heaters and a lot of the baby clothes they’ll be donating to Plunket for their baby clothing giveaway in Stoke tomorrow.
“We don’t make anything out of this and we don’t want to. We’re happy to help out, it makes us feel good. When I came here I had nothing and needed help, the Te Korowai Trust helped me get on my feet, they were really good to me so I decided to pay it forward and help other people.”
Since the Facebook page started around 900 people have “liked” it and hundreds of items have exchanged hands. There have also been chapters set up in Motueka, Ashburton and Whangarei.
Some items don’t even get seen by Maxine and her team. “People have been posting photos of goods they are prepared to donate and people have been getting in touch with them directly, which is great.”
The team say they spent around four hours a day on the project, in between work, kids and their own free time and are prepared to do so for the foreseeable future.
“We really enjoy it and enjoy watching the relief on people’s faces when they come in. There’s a need so we will keep going,” says Maxine.
The Pay it Forward project has a new storage space that will be open from 11am to 2pm each Tuesday and Thursday for donation drop off and for people who need a little help and Maxine says it’s important to make it a place with no judgement.
“We all have a moment in our lives when we need a little help and there’s no shame in that. There was a moment in my life when I needed help and it’s nice to be able to pay that help I had forward.”
If you have items you’d like to donate you can email payitforward@hotmail.co.nz or text 020 4022 3866.