John Masters has been giving away cooked sausages for 15 years. He does it as an act of love.

Every Saturday night John sets up his barbeque near the intersection of Ardmore and Helwick streets, sizzles up sausages between the hours of 10:00pm and 12:00am, and gives a grilled sausage to anyone who wants one.

“It's kind of an odd thing to do, to set a barbeque up on the streets when most people are heading home, and most people are going to bed," John said, adding that he's found that from 10:00 to 12:00 people have time to stop for a chat.  

"They are going between pubs, wandering the streets, wondering what to do next. People are attracted to the sausage sizzle, so they approach me," he said.

John says he feels he’s not naturally a great communicator. “I'm not a great talker, but I do listen, and I give people time."

An electrician by trade, John has been barbequing and giving away sausages in Wanaka for the past eleven years. It’s something he "feels called to do."  

Before moving to Wanaka, he lived on Waiheke Island, where he got the idea for the sausage sizzles, and put it into practice for four years before moving south.

A scene from the Saturday night sizzles. PHOTO: Supplied

While John provides the consistency - and is the one commonly called 'the sausage sizzle man' - he's supported by a dozen others with the same desire to help people.  

John and his support crew normally give away about 50 sausages or hash browns a night, allowing them to talk to 50 or 60 people.  

He doesn't want a big thing made out of the sausage sizzles, so John maintains a low profile, but he admits that it's not unusual for people to leave in tears because they've been able to share what they are thinking. 

“I think a lot of the conversation at the pub is very shallow, and then they get to talk to us and it goes a bit deeper."

John is a man of faith. "I never used to believe in God but one morning in Waiheke God woke me up, revealed himself to me and encouraged me to go out into the streets and show his love to people. 

“I sometimes wonder why he chose me, and the only thing I can think of is that maybe he knew I would actually go and do what he asked me to do."

When John and his wife travelled to Kaitaia and back in a caravan, he gave away sausages during that trip too. They stopped in the small towns along the way and set up the barbeque even though the streets were sometimes deserted.  

John said that if he only had had one meaningful conversation with one person, it would be worthwhile.

After three years grilling sausages in Wanaka, John started travelling to Queenstown as well, on Thursday nights. "I felt like this was needed there too."  

Even though Queenstown and Wanaka don't have as many overseas visitors as previous years, John says he is giving away just as many sausages now as he was before.

He has found that getting something for free is "quite an odd concept for people". People are more than happy to pay and don't understand why sausages and hash browns are being given away.

John said the reason is "very simple".  

"You're giving away a 50-cent sausage, but people feel like you're giving them a hundred bucks."

This humble act of charity immediately removes barriers. People may be shocked at first, but they tend to trust more and start opening up.  

"There are a lot of young people out at that time of night. They are out there to party and get drunk, and sometimes they end up spending two hours just talking to us."

John buys the supplies himself but regularly receives financial support from local churches and other people keen to help out.

He loves doing it, but admits that “it's still hard to do”.  

"I'm actually not a night person. I'm a morning person. At 10:00 at night, there are times I want to just go home and flop into bed, but I don't. I go out, and at the end of it I'm so glad that I did because of one particular person I talked to where it made a difference."