The Wellington City Mission
Standing tall – this is the theme we selected for this year’s annual review and beyond. It has relevance for the people who use the services of The Wellington City Mission, supporters of The Mission, and also those involved in service delivery. Our hope is for a community that stands tall and supports each other in a period of economic downturn of unknown duration.
As the 2008/09 year progressed, it became obvious the services we deliver out of the Community Services branch of The Mission were increasingly in demand. As a result of this, we have been able to support and assist in a variety of ways. People have requested help for one of The Mission’s services (for example food bank) and after a needs assessment, we have been able to offer assistance of a more enduring nature (such as budget advice). More and more, our services interconnect.
This is the 10th year that Mission for Youth has run the Alternative Education programme for secondary students who have dropped out or been excluded from mainstream schools.
This year there are some new initiatives to encourage students to make positive steps in their lives. The education programme will centre on co-operative group activities and thematic learning. Subjects will be assessed through Wellington High School as part of the National Qualifications Framework system and will include Enterprise Studies, Hau Ora and Physical Education, English and Mathematics.
The school has adopted a smoke-free policy in accordance with other secondary schools and New Zealand law. To support this policy, we continue to offer quit smoking assistance as part of the Hau Ora programme.
Mission for Youth now offers parenting education: learning sessions to support parent and caregivers though some of the challenges of parenting teenagers. Also, a student fundraising initiative has been set up to encourage students to learn about enterprise, co-operation and goal setting. Students will work together to help fundraise for special events.
Families with younger children with limited resources have also benefited from the work of the Mission – Mission for Families social workers in particular. Economic and social stress, alcohol and drug dependency and domestic violence are some of the factors that negatively affect families. As always, the Families programme works in with other community and statutory agencies to ensure the best outcomes for families in need.
Mission for Families social workers deal with multiple issues ranging from straightforward behaviour management strategies for parents, to the more complex cases that are referred to us by Child Youth and Family Services. We are pleased to be a provider of Differential Response services for CYFS in both Wellington and the Hutt Valley as this is complementary to what we already do.
Mission for Independence has had a very busy year. This comes as no surprise considering the age range of service users and breadth of services offered by Mission for Independence.
The largest increase in demand for services is in the budgeting area. The Mission offers a number of different options for those in financial difficulty depending on the severity. At any one time an average of 30 clients each month had their money totally managed by The Mission because of the severity of their debt. This number is on the rise. Another 24 on average per month have had a similar service although they are not in debt at all, but unable to manage their own finances. The biggest increase is in the number of people who have had assistance to prepared a budget, organise repayments to creditors, and are then regularly counselled and supported in order to work within their new budget.
In total 283 budget service clients were assisted which includes 700 coaching sessions and 14,230 transactions through The Mission’s trust account.
We were fortunate to have assistance from the AXA Foundation to upgrade the drop-in centre kitchen, which also sits within Mission for Independence’s range of services. The new commercial size cooker and efficient extractor means soup and, at times full meals, are so much easier to prepare.
Christmas is always a busy and satisfying year at The Wellington City Mission. We get to experience Wellington at its best! Christmas 2008 saw generous donations of regular food and Christmas treats, gifts and household items which were then distributed to those in need. Again we are appreciative of the volunteers who gave up their time in order to collect, sort and deliver goods that many Wellingtonians would not have, had others not been so generous and thoughtful.
During the winter months we always experience an increase in the need for assistance with food through our food bank. This was the case in 2008, and we also experienced a slight increase at the very end of the (financial) year. We expect this trend to continue and are thankful for the major mid-year Brown Paper Bag campaign. The Dominion Post delivers more than 60,000 empty bags throughout the Greater Wellington region which are then filled and dropped off at Shell service stations over a period of two weeks. This keeps our non-perishable food stocks up for another four or five months. Again, we are expecting more demand for emergency food parcels this year as the economic downturn affects more people, particularly those who were only just keeping their heads above water last year.
The Transition to Work programme formally commenced in July 2008. It was developed to prepare 16-19 year olds for employment, particularly in the areas of social, life and practical skills. By creating a personal development plan for each participant, barriers that are relevant to each individual have been identified. Literacy and numeracy issues have been significant and this warranted the employment of a trained literacy tutor initially.
Seventeen young adults were enrolled in the programme over the year. Transition to Work has been made possible mainly through the financial support of the Mission Auxiliary and the Todd Foundation.
Even more elderly in the community Mission for Seniors programme were visited this year. In particular, there has been increased demand for the service in Lower Hutt with 204 people receiving support there. In addition 65 were in Upper Hutt, 97 in Porirua, 104 in Northern Wellington and 186 in Wellington. A massive total of 16,437 visits, phone calls and meetings were recorded for the year.
As in previous years, funding for the services we provide to the elderly in the community are poorly funded. Our fundraising efforts, which include mail appeals, trust applications and grants, covered around 60% of the costs of this programme. We rely on bequests specifically targeted to the elderly, dividend payments and invested funds to support our work with seniors in the community.
For our elderly residents in Kemp Home and Hospital, the highlight of the year was the upgrade of Emma Wing. Although disruptive for residents and staff at times, Holmes Wellington were as considerate as humanly possible, and as a result we now have a modernised, upbeat hospital wing with single rooms and a more workable layout.
The convenient Ezee Meals produced by Mission Foods Limited continue to be a practical and healthy option for a wide variety of consumers. Over the year we gained new parish outlets but have been advised that some successful distributors in the northern parts of the country will not be providing the service any more. We are always on the look-out for organisations that have a particular interest in the elderly who may want to help sell the frozen meals to this consumer group. The menu is appealing with the roast meals being the top sellers.
A large proportion of our funding (44%) for Community Services comes from the business community and general public. For this I thank our sponsors and donors, and also to those who volunteer their time, including the volunteer trustees, who together with the staff achieve outstanding outcomes for our community.
Michelle Branney
Chief Executive Officer
