Currently, two people are employed at the centre at 20 hours each through sources such as Whanganui Community Foundations, Lotteries, COGS and Grass Roots Central.
As of last week, the grant covering centre manager Jane Bilderbeck’s wages was “cut in half”, Butturini said.
“It really shows us how much free time she has been contributing towards the community centre.”
On top of building connections, applying for funding, budgeting, writing plans and creating new initiatives, she still spends 10 hours per week counselling the community.
Classes held throughout the week include yoga, crafts, sign language, senior tech and te reo Māori.
Butturini told a Whanganui District Council aspirations and projects committee the centre started as “a small idea to put some books in a library”, but what staff had discovered in Whanganui East was a community in need.
The centre has two main goals in terms of resourcing - finding $167,107.02 per year to employ three fulltime staff and $18,000 over three years for a counsellor mentorship programme.
Cassi Steele (left), who's in her second year of a Bachelor of Early Childhood Teaching, studying at the centre with Marie Butturini. Photo / Mike Tweed
“Palmerston North, for example, has five or six libraries and five or six community hubs that are heavily supported by the Palmerston North City Council,” Butturini said.
“What we already have is an independently established community centre.
“We are asking for support from the council so the community centre can have long-term sustainability and be not for-loss.”
The centre operates as a charitable trust and receives funding through the Whanganui Library for rent and utilities in that part of the building.
“Now more than ever, people are struggling,” Butturini said.
“We hear stories every day about how challenging this time is. That’s why we think the community needs our support.”
The centre’s report to the committee said Bilderbeck, a qualified counsellor, had been at capacity with her caseload since the beginning of 2023.
Whanganui Deputy Mayor Helen Craig said the council had a plan for some kind of youth hub, but didn’t know what it looked like as yet.
She asked Butturini if the centre was already fulfilling some of that role.
Butturini said Bilderbeck’s history was at Youth Services Trust.
“Jane specialises in working with rangatahi, and a big percentage of people that come into the community centre are youth for that reason.
“Through the holidays, we have a lot of youth come through, probably between [the ages of] 9 and 14.
“If you drive past on the weekend, it’s very common to see people sitting on the deck using the internet.”
Operating hours are currently 20 hours per week - 9am to 1pm from Monday to Friday.
Opening hours restricted what the centre could do and public feedback showed overwhelming support for more, Butterini said.
“To be honest, it [current hours] probably targets more of the elderly.
“One of our policies is that there must always be two people there.
“If we could have two fulltime positions allocated [plus Bilderbeck], we would be able to open our doors for at least 40 hours a week.”
Butturini said she expected visitor numbers for 2023 to hit 10,000.
Mike Tweed is an assistant news director and multimedia journalist at the Whanganui Chronicle. Since starting in March 2020, he has dabbled in everything from sport to music. At present his focus is local government, primarily the Whanganui District Council.
