Robyn Edie / Stuff
Glen and Trinity Goodall and Jerilee Roberts run Southern Outreach and offer weekly meals from Russell Square in south Invercargill.
The Goodall family, from Invercargill, know what it’s like to struggle financially; and they know how hard it is to ask for help.
So now that they are able to do that, they “pay it forward” and quietly help where they can.
Trinity and Glen Goodall, along with Jerilee Roberts, host weekly community barbecues in southern Invercagill, but by working in social services they can advise families where to find support and sometimes just lend a listening ear.
As the cost of living increases, there are many more people who need their help, they say.
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Glen Goodall remembers a man who grabbed a hamburger and some sausages and said this would be his food for the next few days.
A young couple was grateful for the barbecue because they couldn’t afford meat, Trinity says.
Often children and teens get up and bring their parents the next week.
Trinity relied on these types of services for a time when she was a teenager living on the streets.
When Glen suddenly lost his job just before Christmas in 2015, the family was nominated for the Salvation Army’s Adopt a Family for Christmas program.
“They filled our car,” Trinity recalls, pointing to their station wagon. “I cried.”
Robyn Edie / Stuff
Southern Outreach hosts its weekly community barbecues in Russell Square, on busy Elles Rd, where many passers-by drop in to see what they’re up to. [File photo]
There were presents for Mom, Dad, the kids, baskets, and grocery and fuel coupons.
“It didn’t feel right,” Glen recalls, with Trinity adding that they almost wanted to pass on some donations to help more families in need.
“We decided we would do something to give something back once we were up and running.”
They began cooking for the Invercargill Salvation Army soup kitchen after noticing that many of the donated meals were unsuitable for diabetics.
But when the soup kitchen closed, they started their weekly BBQs in Queen’s Park just before the close of 2020, using a gazebo as cover when the city’s inclement weather didn’t play along.
“When William Booth Started [the Salvation Army] he didn’t care if it rained. He didn’t care if it was safe. He just wanted to go out and feed people,” Trinity says.
On one occasion, some 50 people stopped by the barbecue, but many were students and travelers.
So after a Covid-19-imposed hiatus, the Goodalls and Roberts moved their operation to Russell Square in south Invercargill, where they’ve been up and running again for two months.
“Here we support people who need it,” says Trinity.
South Invercargill never fully recovered economically from the closure of Ocean Beach freezes in 1991 and the suburbs around Russell Square are classified as twenty-five areas on the University of Auckland Index of Multiple Deprivation (five of which are the most deprived).
The trio started Southern Outreach out of pocket money, and Glen remembers cooking for people on a small three-legged barbecue in the beginning.
But over time, people and companies have donated a gazebo, a larger barbecue and food.
One woman, Melissa Dawson, even started cooking soup that she hands out in takeout containers while schoolchildren are raising money.
“It’s pretty hard to remember everyone who helped,” Glen said.
Trinity dreams of one day operating a mobile “food ambulance,” like the Salvation Army did when she was a teenager, so Southern Outreach can cook for people all over Invercargill.
“Buildings put up barriers,” she says, with Glen adding, “A lot of people don’t want to be seen. They’re proud.”