An important community hub that has been providing a wide range of social services for Pāpāmoa residents for 30 years is closing in September.

Pāpāmoa Neighbourhood Support coordinator Bruce Banks sent an email out to the community on Sunday to address rumours that were starting to circulate that Pāpāmoa Family Services is about to close.

“Anglican Care Waiapu have advised that they are intending to cease operating in Pāpāmoa as at Friday September 22nd 2023 – yes, that’s just seven weeks away,” says Bruce.

“Pāpāmoa Family Services have been a vital service provider to the Pāpāmoa community and surrounds for many years under the umbrella of Anglican Care Waiapu - ACW.

“It is imperative that our community retains these services so a huge amount of work needs to be done quickly to make sure that the amazing good work can continue.”

The land that Pāpāmoa Family Services is located on belongs to Tauranga City Council, while the buildings belong to Anglican Care Waiapu. Photo: Supplied.

Pāpāmoa Family Services in Hartford Ave is a community-based service of Anglican Care Waiapu and have supported the Pāpāmoa community since 1993.

Learning to make affordable family meals, learning to manage on a limited budget, getting help during times of crisis, and being supported while facing challenges of family relationships, addictions, school and money issues.

The organisation provides family support, counselling for parents and caregivers, financial mentoring, and youth support, to help people take positive action in their lives.

The services are available for people who live in the Pāpāmoa area and are mostly free, though a koha is greatly appreciated.

Pāpāmoa Family Services are also the recipient of all the Pāpāmoa food and donations collected through the annual Emergency Services Food Drive, with over 50 trailer loads received in 2022. Photo: Supplied.

A number of other services use the rooms for meetings, including Bay of Plenty Addiction Services, Strengthening Families, Growing through Grief and Oranga Tamariki. The centre shares grounds with Te Akau Hauora Doctor and Dental Services.

Regular programmes that run at the centre include the Community Mindfulness Group, Building Awesome Whānau, Women for Ourselves, and Money, Kai and Me.

Pāpāmoa Family Services are also the recipient of all the Pāpāmoa food and donations collected through the Emergency Services Food Drive with over 50 trailer loads received in 2022, which is organised by Neighbourhood Support and Fire Emergency NZ’s local volunteer fire brigade with the help of many emergency and community organisations.

Anglican Care Waiapu CEO Lucy Laitinen says the decision to close Pāpāmoa Family Services was a “really tough” one to make and “is indeed significant news for the community”.

ACW is the social services organisation of the Anglican Diocese of Waiapu, which reaches from southern Hawke’s Bay up to Bay of Plenty, also encompassing Tairāwhiti.

The organisation delivers a range of social services throughout Bay of Plenty, Eastland, and Hawke’s Bay, and is committed to the wellbeing of tamariki/children and rangatahi/youth and safeguarding them from harm or abuse.

They have run Pāpāmoa Family Services out of the Hartford Ave site since 2010 after taking over the Pāpāmoa East Community Support Centre in Domain Rd in 2002.

The messages on ceiling beams at Pāpāmoa Family Services reflect how the facility is an important community meeting place for people from Pāpāmoa needing help. Photo: Supplied.

“The social sector is a dynamic environment so it’s important that we regularly review what we are doing to ensure that our resourcing is commensurate with our community impact,” says Lucy.

“Anglican Care Waiapu has made a strategic commitment to demonstrating impact and achieving excellence in service delivery and we developed an outcome framework some years ago in order to be able to properly track and measure our impact.

“We recently reviewed Pāpāmoa Family Services, including its service delivery model, funding contracts, the client group, resourcing needs, income streams, and other services available for the clients in the region.

“Although we have for some time now deliberately run the service at a significant operating deficit to ensure its continuation, we have now made the decision to close the service and concentrate on other services and programmes in the region.”

Lucy says this is no reflection on the quality of services that have been provided by Pāpāmoa staff and volunteers to date but more a recognition of the limited reach and scale of the service as it currently stands.

“In fact our staff and volunteers have delivered above and beyond through their commitment to and passion for the community. The annual Pāpāmoa food drive and the well-used kai table are particular testament to that.”

The land that Pāpāmoa Family Services is located on belongs to Tauranga City Council, while the buildings belong to Anglican Care Waiapu.

“We are currently working with Tauranga City Council regarding the future of the Hartford Rd site,” says Lucy.

“Anglican Care Waiapu has invested significant funds into maintenance and improvement of the site in recent years and, like Council, want to see the site well used to support the community.”

Many other social services also use the Pāpāmoa Family Services rooms. Photo: Supplied.

Tauranga City Council Community Services General Manager Barbara Dempsey says the council was notified of the closure last week and has no plans at this time for using the land in Hartford Ave where Pāpāmoa Family Services is located.

When asked by Sunlive if Tauranga City Council would consider leasing the land to a new entity that may form to provide a similar or the same services currently provided, Barbara says there is potential for that to happen.

"Potentially; as this land is considered under our Reserves Management Plan, future leases need to account for the requirements of the Reserves Act, including understanding community needs.

"There are so many awesome groups in Tauranga Moana doing great things for their communities and we want to support them the best we can.

"We have met with Anglican Care Waiapu and are looking into opportunities for the future of the site that continue to meet the needs of the community."

Pāpāmoa Family Services has a number of staff who will be affected by the closure. The manager is based at the ACW head office in Hawke’s Bay.

“As you can imagine, this decision has been immensely difficult for our staff and volunteers who gave us their feedback via an employment consultation process,” says Lucy.

“The final day for staff will be September 22. We are working with staff to help them transition to new employment.”

It is understood that the staff are being supported by the local Anglican clergy and are hopeful of a good outcome for the staff and community.

Other important community services using the facilities may need to relocate but that will only be determined after the future of the site is confirmed.

Bruce has called an emergency meeting with local social service organisations to address the situation.

“We will soon be going out to our community looking for support, so that we can create a new entity that will seamlessly continue to provide essential services within our community,” says Bruce.

“If you have any skills or expertise that you would like to offer the new organisation, please email us today on communityofpap@gmail.com

“Just tell us what professional skills or services you might be able to offer the new entity, and they will be in touch.”