Western News: September 18, 2018

8 Tuesday September 18 2018
Latest Christchurch news at www.star.kiwi
WESTERN NEWS
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Halswell food stall for those in need
Fire rages, homes at risk
• By Anan Zaki
A COUPLE’S goal to provide
food for those in need has taken
off.
Avonhead couple Keri and
Dave Glassenbury have set up the
Sharing Shack, in Halswell.
The shack is a food shelf, where
people can donate and take food.
It was built by computer programmer
Mr Glassenbury, and is
outside the Halswell Community
Hub, at the former Halswell Library
on Halswell Rd.
They set up the shack in
Halswell because Mrs Glassenbury
is a manager at the Halswell
Community Project, which
works to connect and support
people in the suburb.
In its first week of operation,
the Sharing Shack has been
frequently used and is regularly
filled up and then emptied.
“People are more often donating
more than they take away,”
Mrs Glassenbury said.
“The whole idea is, if there is
anybody out there struggling in
any way, you don’t have to put a
thing in there, just take the food,”
she said.
Mrs Glassenbury’s two-and-ahalf
years of helping the Halswell
community have made her passionate
about the area.
“It’s a great area and a number
of times we have talked about
moving to Halswell . . . I just see
FRESH FOOD: Halswell Community Project co-ordinator Kate
Cleverly (left), and Halswell Community Project manager
Keri Glassenbury stock up the Sharing Shack at Halswell
Community Hub.
the whole city as one community
as well,” she said.
The shack is mainly intended
for fruit and vegetables but
canned and instant meals have
also been common.
“If people want to, they can donate
other food, and that’s great.
There is always something that
somebody needs,” she said.
Many in the community
will want to help, Mrs
D.I.Y: Dave Glassenbury
building the Sharing Shack.
Glassenbury believed.
“We dropped it off at 3pm
on Sunday [September 9] , and
posted on Facebook. Straight
away people were like: ‘Oh where
is it, I want to drop things off’,”
she said.
Giving back to the community
is something Mrs Glassenbury
has always wanted to do and is
now encouraging her husband to
join in more.
“I’ve always enjoyed working
with people, I’m a people person.
Working in the community hub
. . . it’s an awesome way to meet
people from all walks of life.”
For Mr Glassenbury, volunteering
in the community is a new
experience.
“It was Keri’s idea and they [the
community project] wanted it
done, and I quite like that sort of
thing [building work],” he said.
His first experience was a rewarding
one. “I thought it would
be slow to take off but people
were very quick to get into it,” Mr
Glassenbury said.
Now that he has had his first
taste of working for the community,
another project is around
the corner.
“I am also building a library
shelf where people can share
books,” Mr Glassenbury said.
He didn’t think there would be
demand for food sharing.
“It appears there is . . . what
I also noticed is the amount of
people that want to give stuff.
That really surprised me,” he said.
He considers himself to be a
handyman around the house,
although the project is very different
from his job as a computer
programmer.
“I’ve often do jobs around the
house or building things for the
kids,” he said.
The couple hoped their goodwill
won’t be spoiled by people
trying to take advantage of the
situation.
“If it it does [get stolen], we’ll
just build another one,” Mrs
Glassenbury said.
But it was unlikely to be stolen
Mr Glassenbury believed.
“People can surprise you
sometimes, I think it’ll be fine.”
Tennis star pens award-winning poem
•From page 1
Abby’s award-winning
poem, titled Newton’s Third
Law, was picked for first place
by the WORD competition’s
judge, poet and author Helen
Heath.
“I’m part of this school for
young writers thing, which I
go to on Saturday mornings,
and they mentioned the
competition, so I decided to
write something,” she said.
“I love writing, you can just do
so much with it, you can write
whatever you want.”
Abby said she was the first in
her family to dabble in creative
writing, which she became
interested in after joining a
writing group as a pupil at
Selwyn House School.
“I had this one teacher who
was amazing, she taught me so
much. It was the highlight of
my week going to those creative
writing sessions.”
Her father Rhett Mason was a
former junior Davis Cup player
and the pair played mixed
doubles competitions alongside
each other.
Abby said she had to juggle
her passions for writing and
tennis with her schoolwork and
social life.
“I started playing tennis when
I was about seven, but my dad
is a really good tennis player so
he started throwing tennis balls
at me when I was three or four,”
she said.
“Sometimes it’s a bit of a
struggle to balance everything, I
don’t know how I manage to fit
it all in, but I do.”
And when asked which of
her passions she might pursue
as a career, she couldn’t
decide.
“I’d really like to continue
doing both for as long as I can.
I might change how I think in a
few years, but for now I want to
do both.”
Newton’s Third Law
When I drove to your house
you said
take me somewhere
you didn’t want to talk about
your dad
he wasn’t worth talking about
everything you did, set him off.
There was silence, apart from
the grounding of tyres
against the dusty road.
It was hard to see straight,
in the dark, on the coast,
with the moon
distancing itself,
making the waves drowsy.
The only light was tiny balls of
gas in the sky
and because I took my hand
off the wheel to hold yours
I didn’t see the truck
or the ditch
or the stars,
as we flipped.
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