IGA cashier Lisa Pelle listens when customers have nowhere else to turn
After eleven years, IGA cashier Lisa Pelle listens to customers facing domestic violence, homelessness, and isolation.
When Lisa Pelle scans your groceries at IGA Ngunnawal, she remembers your name. She asks about your week.
Lisa listens to customers who share struggles about home life, medical problems, or just loneliness. After eleven years, she does this daily without flinching.
The shop owners credit her with holding the community together. One customer in hospital refused to tell anyone why she was there.
But she asked the owner to tell Lisa she was okay. A trauma therapist who shops there calls Lisa a "front-line worker for the lonely".
This therapist says Lisa has a rare gift for active listening and solid boundaries. Lisa says she might be the only person some customers talk to all day.
She feels that weight and offers comfort. She picks up on the serious stuff.
She guides people toward help.
- 11 years
- Years at IGA Ngunnawal
- Lisa Pelle
- Cashier
- Pete and Vicki Neou
- Shop owners
- IGA Ngunnawal
- Location
Why it mattersA single person paying real attention can be the difference between loneliness and feeling heard, especially in a time of social division.
AustraliaLisa's work at a Canberra IGA shows how ordinary jobs in local shops can become a form of community care when someone genuinely cares.
✓ Claims checked against the source. checked 2 h ago
