Shock closure for The Purple Pantry

Ms Mifka said she was contacted by her landlord that someone had made a complaint to Greater Shepparton City Council.

“I got a call from the owners of the house I rent that they had received a notice of complaint about how untidy it was,” she said.

“It was going to have to come down.”

The notice asked for it to be removed, so Ms Mifka has been tidying up what’s left, with the iconic purple shelves already packed up.

On Monday, March 3, she notified her Facebook followers that the pantry would be gone by the end of the week.

“It was a little bit of a shock in a way, I guess,” she said.

“(People have been) very upset, it gets a lot of foot traffic here, and I think it’s really upset a lot of people.

“The community connection, the positivity, the greatness that it brought has just been taken away like that because someone didn’t like the look of it.”

Over the past three years, the pantry’s purpose and stock has evolved, as more and more items were donated, from food, nonperishables and sanitary items to clothing, tupperware and furniture.

“It was a no-questions-asked, no-judgment-passed system,” Ms Mifka said.

“It was never my business if they were needy or greedy.”

What’s left is out the front of her home as usual, but Ms Mifka reckons it won’t be there for too long.

“I just think no-one should miss out,” she said.

The News contacted council for comment on the closure but it was unable to produce one by the deadline provided.