Wellington City Mission Case for Support
Help us build a community where there is no 'us and them'.
Caring for people ABOUT YOUR CITY MISSION For 118 years the Wellington City Mission (The City Mission) has been helping people who are doing it tough in the Wellington region. Our vision is to see people and communities empowered, transformed, and experiencing fullness of life. We're there for anyone who needs assistance, regardless of their religious belief, age, ethnicity, or social background. Since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, demand for our services has increased by 400%. The City Mission is known for adapting to the current challenges people are facing and responding in a meaningful and practical way. We're working to provide soluctions to some of the greatest challenges kiwis are facing today of food insecurity, social isolation, mental health, and unsuitable living conditions. We've developed new and innovative approaches to better serve our community and want you to be a part of it.
HOW WE HELP We offer social work support to people experiencing challenging times. We work with individuals and families to identify and address their underlying issues, and to create positive outcomes. We help people and families to secure housing, receive free groceries, access healthcare, and counselling, stabilise finances and become debt-free. Our Social Supermarket offers food support through the dignity of choice, and our community lounge Tā te manawa provides a safe place of belonging and connection. A large part of our work is helping people who are in a category referred to as the 'working poor'; people with jobs that after paying their rent and bills cannot afford food for themselves and their family. Also, it is interesting to note that through our social work and social supermarket, women and sole-mothers makeup 55% of our clients. Last year, through our social work with families we supported 213 children.
Te Pā Transitional Housing
Social Supermarket
LEADING IN INNOVATION Seeking to create real change, The City Mission has researched new and different models of social welfare from around the world. We researched successful co-living facilities in Austria and France, community and social housing developments in America, Germany, and Vietnam, community cafés in Australia, and social supermarkets in the United Kingdom.
Rather than receiving a pre-packed food parcel, people can choose their own groceries, free of charge and with dignity, creating a mana-enhancing experience.
Key Stats July - September 2021
154 people in supported housing
Through this research, we found better ways to deliver services to people; ways that promoted dignity and no longer perpetuated feelings of shame and disempowerment. These innovative approaches place emphasis on ease of access, social integration and participation in the community while focusing on building skills and confidence. This approach now informs our models for care. In March 2021, we opened a Social Supermarket in Newtown, which is available for individuals and families who are experiencing food insecurity.
2,750 shoppers through our Social Supermarket
349 face-to-face social work meetings with clients
130 budgeting and financial mentoring appointments
15
people into permanent housing
Supported Housing
A PLACE TO CALL HOME Over the past two years, The City Mission has opened four supported living housing facilities to provide a place of support and belonging for people experiencing homelessness and housing insecurity. Named Te Pūnaha Pā, our housing facilities offer an alternative solution to unmonitored and largely unsupported emergency housing. Residents in supported living housing live in a 24/7 supported environment with social workers and support staff creating an intentional community. Residents experience so much more than a roof over their head while they stay with us; they participate in an intensive programme designed to alter the trajectory of their life.
Our housing facilities operate on an outcome-driven model of social work support. Residents receive support to secure employment, find sustainable and permanent housing, mental health support and counselling, connect back with whanau, work with financial mentors, and undertake life-skills and training programmes. Unlike emergency housing, support staff provide 24/7 security to our housing facilities in Wellington prioritising safety and security for residents and the public, helping to make the streets safer for everyone. Every day, 133 people are supported in our housing facilities across the Wellington region.
One year at Te Pā Manawa Britannia House (19 bedroom facility)
50
people in supported housing
20
into permanent housing
12
secured employment
8
started volunteering work
28 received their licence
We're there for James WORKING TOWARDS A BETTER LIFE I came to The Mission last year in a really bad way. My wife and I had split up, and even though I was working full-time I couldn’t afford another flat. With no friends or family around I had no choice but to leave my three kids with their mum at home, and live in my car. All of my money went towards supporting my family and paying off our debts. I was eating once a day, sleeping in a freezing cold car, and missing being at home with my kids. I was in my own bubble and had a depression I had never experienced before. I didn’t know how I would ever get out of my situation, and I got to the point where I was having terrible thoughts about my life. Then I went to The City Mission and met one of their Social Workers, Tom. His encouragement gave me hope, and he even found me a place at one of The City Mission’s housing facilities. I also started working with Carla, a City Mission Financial Mentor, to help me make a budget to pay off my debts, support my kids, and work towards paying for a flat.
Soon I found out my kids had started being mistreated. I began doing every thing I could to give them a better home with me. I took on a second job to afford my own flat, and with Tom’s and Carla’s help I was able to get into council housing. I was granted full custody of my kids, and we moved into our own flat. It’s awesome to have a home. The City Mission also gives us vouchers for things I can’t afford for the kids such as winter thermals, as well as special activities like swimming pool passes. We shop for food at the Social Supermarket each week too, which is a great help.
"The City Mission has been a miracle for me." I’m so grateful to have met so many special people, who are keen to help complete strangers. Our life is way better than it was just a year ago. I’ve gone from complete disorder to feeling confident that we’re on the right track. Most importantly, you can see my kids are so much happier, and we’re a real team!
The game-changer A new home base for
The City Mission
Social Supermarket THE GAME-CHANGER The City Mission is embarking on an ambitious project that will create a dynamic community facility for all Wellingtonians, and will be a gamechanger for the region. Situated near the Basin Reserve, the new facility is unique to Wellington and unique to New Zealand, and is an opportunity to to dimish social barriers and create an inclusive community where there is no 'us and them'. It will be a place where we will serve our community in new and different ways, and it will be a place where people's lives will change for the better. The building is called Whakamaru, a name gifted by mana whenua, which means “to shelter, to safeguard, and to protect.”
When completed in 2023, The City Mission will be available for people in need 24/7. We will provide enhanced food support through a social supermarket, community and belonging through a pay-what-youfeel Community Café, housing through supported living housing units, and outcome-driven social services. Whakamaru represents a response to the challenges faced by our region, and is a response that we can all be a part of.
"Lives matter just as much no matter what you have, who you are, or what you are going through." - Murray Edridge, City Missioner
In Whakamaru there will be: Community Café
Social Supermarket
Supported Living Housing
Conference Centre
Therapeutic Art Room
Shower, Toilet & Laundry Facilities
A VISION FOR A BETTER FUTURE “Whakamaru will be a life changing intervention: for the people who need the services, but more so, for the people who come to help.” - Murray Edridge, City Missioner
A place for everyone Whakamaru will have a 120 seat paywhat-you-feel Community Café, where you'll be able to get really good food and great coffee and pay any amount you choose. The best part is that you might even sit and talk with someone who you wouldn't ordinarily meet, helping to diminish stigma and disrupt division in our society. It will have a Social Supermarket where shoppers are given the dignity of choosing groceries for themselves and their families for free.
Social Supermarket - free for people in tough times
There will be extensive volunteering opportunities for everyone to participate in creating a more inclusive society. Whakamaru will be the new home base for The City Mission and will be an invitation to the wider community to take part in something unique and transformative. Open 24/7, Whakamaru will also have a Medical Centre, Conference Centre, Chapel, laundry and showers, training kitchen, and a therapeutic arts studio.
Pay-what-you-feel Community Café for everyone to enjoy
October 2021 Demolition Phase
February 2022 Construction Phase
December 2023 Construction Complete
WE WILL OPEN IN 2023 “This is a great project that will change people’s lives and improve this city. I want Wellington to be the opposite of loneliness. To be a place where there is a community, and everyone is supported to be a part of us, and for me, Whakamaru is a great step towards making sure Wellington is indeed the opposite of loneliness.” - Hon. Grant Robertson
Breaking-ground
BE PART OF THE CHANGE If you're as excited about Whakamaru as we are, then we want to invite you to be part of it. We've raised a significant amount of money so far from wonderfully generous supporters, but there's more to do. We're relying on the generosity of the Wellington community to help us build Whakamaru. We are raising up to $40m and we need your help to get us there. So join us on the journey and together we can realise a new vision for Wellington.
Funding so far...
We have received $15m from the NZ Government, $500,000 from the Wellington City Council, $500,000 from the Anglican Diocese, and $14m from individuals, companies and trusts. We will acknowledge some of our supporters throughout the building and on the Founders Steps, so please speak to us about how we could include your name.
$10M TO GO
75%
We have received incredible support so far and are 75% funded.
$30M FUNDED
"The best thing we can do is help the community understand that for us to be successful as a society, we all need to share in that success." - Murray Edridge, City Missioner
Free support for anyone who needs it
LET'S BUILD SOMETHING WELLINGTON WILL BE PROUD OF Gift a Housing Unit You can sponsor a housing unit for $150,000, and help someone off the streets, into a home, and onto a pathway to a better future. You can split your donation over 2 or more years, and individuals can claim a 33.33% tax credit for all donations over $5.
Gift a Community Room
Supported Living Housing Unit
You can sponsor a medical or community room for $50,000. Your support can mean the difference between someone living with chronic pain becoming pain free, or someone struggling to pay bills and live, to working with a financial mentor and becoming debt free. You can split your donation over 2 years, and individuals can claim a 33.33% tax credit for all donations over $5.
Fit-out a Housing Unit You can gift the complete fit-out of a housing unit for $10,000 and set someone up in their own apartment. Your gift could purchase items such as a bed, lounge suite, kitchen supplies, and everything someone needs to enjoy living in their own apartment.
Gift a donation More than anything we are relying on the support of our community to complete our building project and welcome donations of any amount. All donations over $5 are entitled to a tax rebate.
We look forward to opening the doors in 2023 and inviting you to be a part of it. Sharon Cavill Philanthropy Manager M: 022 0594808 | E: sharon@wgtncitymission.org.nz 19 Gordon Place, Newtown, Wellington W: wellingtoncitymission.org.nz/whakamaru