A place to belong

The Family Store in Panmure is true to its name—becoming family to a team of volunteers that have found a place to belong, says manager Gary Davison.

When I look back, God was guiding my path to where I am today. I had a great upbringing with my family, growing up on a farm. But they firmly don’t believe in God. Yet, I always prayed—I always had a connection with God.

I spent a year travelling through Africa, and kept meeting missionaries who would share with me about Christ. I’m a builder, so when I came back to New Zealand, I started working with some amazing builders who were Christians. My wife and I attended an Alpha course, and I finally stopped battling. We both accepted Christ at the same time and it was wonderful!

We went to a fish ‘n’ chip night through Mainly Music at The Salvation Army’s REC Church, and within minutes I had joined their soccer team. This became our first spiritual home.

For the past five years, I have managed the Panmure Family Store and Community Ministries. For me, the ministry begins and ends with the Red Shield on our building, which symbolises our mission of ‘caring for people, transforming lives and reforming society’.

Our philosophy is that we go out to the community, rather than waiting for the community to come to us. When I first began, we were praying for volunteers to join the store, and I suddenly realised they were all around us. We approached Sommerville Special School and started having their students volunteering two days a week.

We also have students volunteering from work schemes, who may be struggling in school but want work experience. Often, family of the students who are volunteering will come in, because they are proud of what their kids are doing, and so they too, become part of our community.

The concept of family is huge for us—it’s a ‘family store’. People who have never felt like they fit in have found a place to belong here.

We had a homeless guy who used to sleep out the back of the shop. He started volunteering with us and went into recovery [from addiction]. He has now moved off the streets and is doing really well. We’ve had three volunteers who were homeless move off the streets, which is really big. We’ve had a lot of people volunteering with us who were out of work, that have since got back into the workforce.

Every Tuesday, we have a coffee morning at the store—it’s not about selling; it’s about building family. Patricia started coming along to the coffee mornings, and then began volunteering in the shop. She was a bit lost and came from a very hard background. She calls us her family. She was recently diagnosed with cancer, so is going through a really hard time. Other team members text and Facebook her throughout the day. They just support each other. These are some lines from a poem she wrote, which sums up our store:

Come in and see us without any fear
There is no judgement here
Always there to lend a hand
Tell us your story we understand
Where genuine people help you out
Who truly care there is no doubt
Serving our community which we love
With help and guidance from above

Poem by Patricia Burgain

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by Gary Davison (c) 'War Cry' magazine, 19 September 2015, pp9.
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