The Pāpāmoa community is banding together to find a way to keep the Pāpāmoa Family Services operating following news of its imminent closure in seven weeks.

“Anglican Care Waiapu have advised that they intend to cease operating in Pāpāmoa as at Friday, September 22, 2023,” says Pāpāmoa Neighbourhood Support coordinator Bruce Banks.

Pāpāmoa Family Services has been a service provider to the community for 30 years, with ACW running the service out of the Hartford Ave site since 2010 when it took over the Pāpāmoa East Community Support Centre in Domain Rd in 2002.

“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,” says Bruce.

ACW 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, delivering a range of social services throughout Bay of Plenty, Eastland, and Hawke’s Bay.

“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,” says Lucy.

“Although we have for some time now deliberately run the service at a significant operating deficit to ensure its continuation, we’ve 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.”

National’s BOP candidate Tom Rutherford met with staff on Friday. “It’s heart-breaking because the service they provide for Pāpāmoa and the wider BOP community is something we can’t afford to lose,” says Tom.

“This isn’t just a job for them, they’re passionate about our community, assisting people who find themselves in difficult situations, and providing the support they need to get back to a good place.

“They will leave a large gap that will be difficult and unlikely to fill.”

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

“We’re currently working with TCC regarding the future of the Hartford Rd site,” says Lucy.

“ACW 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.”

TCC community services general manager Barbara Dempsey says council was notified of the closure last week and has no plans at this time for using the land in Hartford Ave.

Barbara says there’s potential for leasing the land to a new entity that may form to provide a similar or the same services currently provided.

“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.

“We’ve met with ACW and are looking into opportunities for the future of the site that continue to meet the needs of the community.”

Tina Dixon and Chris Bertram from Pāpāmoa Family Services met with Bruce and SociaLink staff on Tuesday to discuss the formation of a new entity. “We want the doors to open as usual,” says Bruce.

“We’ll be investigating whether there’s any possibility to be able to use the same buildings and land, so will be talking with ACW and TCC about that.

“I’m reasonably confident that we can form a proposal to open a centre, if we’re able to use the same site.

“The first step is to form a steering group and getting likeminded people who can come on board and help take this forward. If you have any skills or expertise that you’d like to offer the new organisation, please email us on: communityofpap@gmail.com”