Now she is stepping away from the $4 Lunch kitchen, but she is not leaving with a heavy heart.
The 63-year-old founded and has run the Otago University Students’ Association (Ousa) lunch for 24 years.
She said it had served half a million meals to hungry students since it was founded.
Ms Beecroft first moved to Dunedin in 1997 to take a break from working.
She had managed restaurants and run other Hare Krishna kitchens before, but had no intention to be serving her community again so soon.
However, she felt the need to work and began teaching vegetarian cooking lessons to students.
The lessons proved popular and soon there was so much demand that it changed into an accessibly cheap meal provider for students.
Part of her Hare Krishna beliefs was that no person should go hungry within 16km of a Hare Krishna centre.
She applied that belief to her work and made sure as many students as possible could come and enjoy her food.
Within the first week she was serving up to 80 students a day, but at its peak there were almost 300 students each day.
It began as a $2 lunch, then rose to $3 and recently $4.
She had made some additions to the menu over the years, but it remained almost the same as when it began.
A lot of students made it clear how poor their diet was, as many did not have the skills or time to cook.
She was more than happy to help and many students had told her how they could taste the love in the food.
‘‘I feel a real satisfaction in my heart.’’
She did not realise what an impact she had made until she stepped away and had time to reflect.
Although she had witnessed student culture develop and many faces come and go, the positive energy in the lunch hall never changed.
She had even served students who mentioned how their parents used to eat her food.
Although the future of $4 Lunch was uncertain, she was leaving in high spirits.
She had offered her support as an adviser and understood Ousa was working to continue the lunch in some capacity.
She was proud of her work and said she could ‘‘die with a smile on my face.’’
Ms Beecroft would continue her work as the manager of the Hare Krishna Cultural Centre.
She planned to take a break for at least six months before her desire to work got the better of her.
