Lack of funds closes Far North budgeting and family support service

The Northern Community Family Service, which operates from the Kerikeri Baptist Church, will close in two weeks leaving hundreds of clients having to go to Kaikohe for budgeting and other support services

Hundreds of people are facing long journeys after a lack of funding forced a Kerikeri-based budgeting and family service to close its doors after more than 25 years.

Northern Community Family Service first started operating as Community Budgeting Service in 1999, run by Milton and Jo David. Milton still sits on the board, and many board members have supported the agency for more than 10 years.

Such support showed the belief board members had in the services NCFS provided, practice manager Glenda said.

Community Budgeting Service changed its name to Northern Community Family Service in 2016 as there wasnot only a need for financial mentoring but for whanau support services.

But difficulty in securing ongoing funding means the service will close its doors at the Kerikeri Baptist Church in two weeks.

Glenda and financial mentor Christine — both of whom asked their surnames not be published due to the nature of their work — are distraught at having to close and worry about what will happen to their hundreds of clients.

‘‘Many need budgeting advice, relationship help, they may have alcohol and drug issues, stress and anxiety, so many issues that we can help them with. But now they will have to go to Kaikohe or Kaitāia for help,’’ Glenda said.

Sign of the times: Kerikeri’s Northern Community Family Service is closing down in two weeks due to lack of funding.

From Kerikeri, Kaikohe is a 64km round trip, while Kaitāia is almost a 200km round trip. Most of their clients would not be able to afford to get to either place.

And high demand in those areas meant there might not even be room for them if they could.

Glenda said one thing they were seeing increasingly was examples of the “working poor’’.

‘‘We’ve got Mum and Dad both working, but it may be that Dad’s wages only cover the rent, or the mortgage and power and mum’s just pay for groceries and that leaves little for anything else, so they are struggling. It’s not just the unemployed who are finding it hard out there.’’

With so much competition for funding, the service was finding it hard to get enough to guarantee more than three months of service, so the hard decision was made to close.

The Government did not fund budgeting services, and getting funding from other sources was increasingly difficult.

It cost between $70,000 and $80,000 a year to run the service, but if a benefactor turned up with $20,000 it would allow them to keep going and make more funding applications to extend the service, she said.

Northern Community Family Service will be closing its doors in Kerikeri due to funding issues, leaving hundreds having to travel to other towns for the services

But they are not holding out much hope, given how hard it is to get funding in the sector, and they are worried their clients may not get the help they desperately need.

‘‘Regrettably, due to the difficulty in obtaining enough ongoing funding to meet operating costs, NCFS will be closing both its financial mentoring and whanau support services on March 28. This will mean that there will be no financial mentoring service operating in Kerikeri and those who require assistance will now need to travel to Kaikohe,’’ Glenda said.

‘‘Specific skills in whanau support will also be lost. Our financial mentor, Christine, has been with the agency for some 17 years and has developed strong relationships with her clients. Many still come in to see her when they have something happening in their life.’’

She said NCFS would love to be able to continue meeting the needs of both Kerikeri and the wider community, but without assistance to meet the funding shortfall, that would not be possible.

‘‘We still have new and existing clients coming through our doors every day, and we are working hard to ensure that their files can be completed by the time we close.’’

NCFS has also assisted the Kairos Connection Trust, the town’s food bank, by distributing food parcels from its office. With the closure of NCFS, food parcels will now be distributed for two hours, three days a week.

For those seeking food parcels after March 28, the foodbank will be open Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 9 am to 11 am.

Anyone who would like to support NCFS to continue to meet the needs of its community, contact them on 094077800 or email budgetman@xtra.co.nz.