You may have heard of "random acts of kindness" but have you heard of random acts of kumara? How about random acts of carrots?
A church on the outskirts of Kamo has taken the "random acts of kindness" idea to a whole new level in recent months, surprising unsuspecting people around Whangarei with gift bags of carrots, kumara and other produce.
It all started earlier this year when the members of Alive Church decided to give something away every Sunday - a practical way of practicing the biblical teaching of generosity.
Senior Pastor Aaron Halvorson said members initially gave small gifts to each other like ice-blocks or candy floss but some were inspired to do bigger things.
Xavier Smith, a 19-year-old intern at Alive Church, suggested church members start taking the spirit of generosity outside the church and into the community.
Mr Smith said he had no idea how big the idea would become and was surprised by how quickly it grew.
"I thought it was going to take a couple of months to kick in but it was amazing how well everyone just adopted the idea of being generous."
The idea caught on and really took off when church members started bringing in tonnes of donated fruit and vegetables to be randomly distributed.
Over the past few months, an average of a tonne of fresh produce a week has passed through Alive Church and made its way into the community, Mr Halvorson said.
"People have been overwhelmed by generosity from companies and business people when we've explained to them that this is our endeavour, we just want to bring hope to people who might be struggling and cheer them along with no strings attached, and they love the idea and just want to be involved," he said.
"We've found that every week there's new stuff turning up."
Mr Halvorson said people in the community were often surprised to be offered free food and sometimes asked if there was a catch.
"There's the initial questions of 'what's the cost? why are you doing this?' and wondering what the hidden agenda is when the only agenda is being generous. We believe that the church is meant to carry the message of love and that love is synonymous with giving. You can't have an attitude of love without giving."
The random generosity was having a topple-on effect, he said, with some recipients passing the gifts to friends in need.
Church's random acts of kindness
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