Businesses back pay it forward effort

A COUPLE of city centre businesses are giving customers an option to help out those who might need it. 

Out of Order Bagels started a pay-it-forward initiative in February, and owner Kelsey Lingue estimated a total of 290 coffees have been given away through customer donations. 

“There was a young man that came in who just asked if he could sit to get out of the cold for a little bit,” said Ms Lingue. 

“He just shared that he’d been on the streets for six months, that he didn’t have anywhere to go, have any family. I have a social work background, so it broke my heart a little bit.” 

That experience drove Ms Lingue to establish a pay-it-forward drive where customers who are willing also pay for food and drinks for others. 

“I thought it would be awesome if we could provide a space for people to come in and be able to get a hot coffee or get something to eat,” Ms Lingue said. 

“But what better than us just doing it if we can get other people thinking and involved in that too, to kind of help promote just nice community and friendliness. 

“We know that there’s lots of people where we are near the mall that live on the street that do it pretty tough.” 

Since setting up the pay-it-forward take-up has been strong. 

“We probably get on average three or four people come in every single day to get a coffee or a bagel, so we do turn them over quite quickly,” Ms Lingue said. 

“There’s definitely a need for it. Money’s tight for every single person but there’s always someone that could benefit from a little bit of generosity or a little bit of kindness. 

“If every single person put five dollars, even two dollars, on the wall it goes such a long way.” 

Nearby florist, Vogue Nature, also implements pay-it-forward, and was inspired by Out of Order Bagels, said owner Selina Weragoda. 

“I was waiting for coffee when I saw their initiative on the wall and went back to the VN team with excitement at what they had done and wanting to implement that at Vogue Nature,” she said. 

“It’s as simple as ‘if you need one, please take one. If you can spare some, please leave one’.  

“It allows anyone, with any budget, to purchase flowers from our shop, with no questions asked, to brighten theirs or someone else’s day.”