It started with a big idea and small acorn for David Ferguson. Photo / Warren Buckland
It started with a big idea and small acorn for David Ferguson. Photo / Warren Buckland
Havelock North man Dave Ferguson started with an acorn and tried to trade his way to a house.
It was always an ambitious goal - but after three months of trading he's ended up with a go-kart and two ball dresses.
As part of the deal, proceeds from the saleof them will now go towards The Acorn Project.
Ferguson has been with the group since it launched in 2019. The Acorn Project provides wraparound support for youth aged 12-24 years and their families who have been impacted by cancer in some way.
He was inspired to swap the acorn after reading about Kyle MacDonald, a Canadian man who traded up from a single-red paper clip to a two-storey farmhouse over a year of bartering.
While he was hopeful of trading his way up to a house of his own for the charity, Ferguson said it had been a "mindblowing" experience.
Havelock North volunteer Dave Ferguson started with an acorn, attempting to raise funds for The Acorn Project through a series of trades. Photo / Warren Buckland
"Everyone who has wanted to get behind it and helped us out has been amazing.
"I'm glad I got a few more swaps than one or two and the amount of people who donated to this have just been amazing."
The acorn was swapped for a limited edition Acorn Project cap, which was exchanged for a designer-shoe planted up in succulents, then an Ultra Blaster Nerf gun.
This was swapped for a Garmin eTrex GPS unit with additional offers of a 25L Arctic Pro Esky cooler bin, $50 MTA voucher and $24 voucher for a men's haircut.
Ferguson decided to split these items, trading the GPS unit for a downhill go-kart.
He traded the cooler bin for a Glen Colechin painting which was then swapped for two ball gowns, one of which was handmade for a wedding party.
"Everything's going to be sold on Trade Me and all that money's going to go straight to The Acorn Project.
"I have a very faint of idea of what the kart might go for but I have no idea on the dresses."
He wouldn't set a minimum price as he wanted to see how the public would get behind the initiative and what they offered.
"I started off with an acorn, with nothing really.
