Alongside the shelves, she put a note, titled “the purple pantry” which told people to take what they need.
A few days later, it was nearly empty, so she re-stocked it, with her three laughing, smiling energiser-bunny children at her feet.
“I don’t have a plan to stop,” she said.
“If one day it’s empty it’ll be empty but if I’ve got a bit of money I’ll fill it up.
“The church I attend has been inspired by it and they might help as well.”
The pantry is hanging from her front fence at the north end of Colliver Rd, Shepparton, a few houses down from the intersection with Wilmot Rd.
Ms Mifka had not kept track of how much it costs to fill up and spoke as though she had done the most normal thing in the world.
That’s exactly what she wants it to be.
“I wish this was normal and a disaster was a news headline, you know, rather than doing this being uncommon,” she said.
“I’ve had a few people come over and drop stuff off and if I need to add more shelves or another pick-up location we will.
“I’m just letting it grow naturally.
“I want to encourage people to do their own.”
Ms Mifka’s faith was the driving force behind wanting to do good and, in small text below her note on the purple pantry, was a verse from 2 Corinthians 9:6: “whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously”.
“We’re Christians, right, we’re always looking for things to do and ways to help,” she said.
“You can tell when God’s involved in something because it just happens naturally, like this did.
“We were talking at the church and said we should do something like this, and I got home and 20 minutes later it was out there.
“I’m not doing it for me, it’s for the grace of God and because it’s the right thing to do.”
While urging people to start their own, anyone wanting to donate was welcome to put non-perishable items and “stuff which could stand a sprinkle of rain” on the shelves.
The purple pantry could be found at the north end of Colliver Rd.
