Busker in tune with the needy
Generosity to others is no act for 20-year-old singer
It all started about three months ago. Duncan Scowen was doing his usual busking gig outside a supermarket when a man approached him and, sheepishly asked him if he could take some money.
“I don’t know for sure if he was homeless but he did look like he needed money,” he recalls.
“Yeah, man, go hard . . . What the heck,” Scowen replied.
He could tell the man was embarrassed but wanted to put him at ease, that it was okay to ask for help.
That’s when he had this idea: if he wrote a sign letting people know they could just take money, maybe they wouldn’t be so embarrassed to ask.
“If you need $, please take what you need,” the cardboard sign resting on his guitar bag reads.
It worked. Over the past three months, people have helped themselves to small amounts of money from his bag while he is out singing his songs. No questions asked.
The 20-year-old, originally from Rotorua, moved to Auckland about three years ago, to be with the girl he loved. It was a big step but it paid off: Scowen and Gaby are still happy and in love, and have moved in together.
When he got to Auckland, Scowen needed to earn some money so he did what he knew how to do best: he picked up his guitar and started singing outside spots with decent foot traffic. He lives in Torbay, on Auckland’s North Shore, but goes busking all around the bays, from Takapuna to Brown’s Bay.
It’s no big money maker but earns him enough to support himself. On a good day, he might go home with $200, other times $40.
“If the sun isn’t shining, not many people are smiling. It’s a gamble sometimes on what you’re gonna make.” He wouldn’t have it any other way. “I had a lot of help growing up. So I just love to help.”
It’s a trust-based system, for sure, but he believes only those who truly need it ever take his money.
“If you didn’t need it, you wouldn’t put yourself through that, to be seen taking money from a guy busking.”
He also believes more people are willing to give them money when they see someone else taking money.
And as long as he earns enough to support himself, he’s a happy man.
“I just want to continue music and any path it takes me on.”