The ProCare Charitable Foundation has allocated $200,000 from the 2020 funding round to five registered charities serving communities affected by the social impacts of COVID-19.

ProCare Foundation Chair June McCabe says, “For the 2020 grant round the ProCare Foundation did not call for applications but instead recognised the pressure on whānau due to the Covid-19 pandemic and chose to fund charities who could immediately help with food services or provide support services to assist vulnerable people with their mental wellbeing.   

“The reality of the pandemic is that there are now more vulnerable people in Tāmaki Makaurau who are struggling to provide for themselves and their whānau.  Many people who were just keeping their heads above water before, are facing unemployment and uncertain futures as businesses retract due to their changing financial circumstances.

“But in the midst of the crisis we were all heartened to see the efforts of the selfless NGO staff and volunteers who worked exceptionally hard, under very difficult circumstances, to help the growing number of people who needed support.”

The Auckland City Mission, which provides a range of wellbeing support for our city’s homeless and vulnerable was one such organisation, busier than ever during the height of the pandemic. Due to the Mission’s ability to reach the most in need, the ProCare Foundation has granted $70,000 grant which is to be allocated toward two programmes: Food Security and Community Services and Te Whare Hīnātore.

The Mission’s Food Security and Community Services programme received the funding boost in late 2020 when there was unprecedented demand from individuals and families experiencing food insecurity. Thanks to this early allocation of funds from the ProCare Foundation, emergency food parcels could be provided via the programme with a focus on provision via Papakura and Manukau Urban Māori Authority (MUMA) Maraes.

The funding allocated to the Te Whare Hīnātore programme will support the Mission’s new service which is exclusively for women and those who identify as women, experiencing homelessness. Te Whare Hīnātore provides a safe haven to house and care for vulnerable women for up to 12 weeks and helps them into permanent accommodation.

Data from Statistics New Zealand shows that around 60% of those that lost jobs at the height of the pandemic were women.

Auckland City Mission CEO Chris Farrelly said “We know that women continue to bear the brunt of COVID-19 with a larger percentage of those losing their jobs being women. We are therefore thrilled to receive funding from the ProCare Foundation for Te Whare Hīnātore which provides a safe place and support for women.”

Along with the Auckland City Mission the ProCare Foundation will provide funding support for Everybody Eats Charitable Trust, Oke Charity, Rainbow Youth Incorporated and Yellow Brick Road Charity.

The ProCare Charitable Foundation has made grants of over $1,358,676 in the past six years to charities in the greater Auckland region with the aim of reducing health inequity, alleviating the symptoms of poverty and increasing community health and well-being. 

Recipients of the 2020 ProCare Foundation funding allocation are:

Organisation:  Everybody Eats Charitable Trust
Project: To pilot a pop up restaurant in South Auckland

Funding to support delivery of services for an ‘Everybody Eats’ second Auckland permanent site in either West Auckland, Glenn Innes or South Auckland. Everybody Eats is a restaurant where communities come together to provide a three-course, pay-as-you-feel set menu. Each week a different chef takes over the kitchen preparing perfectly good food that would otherwise go to waste and use it to feed people suffering food poverty. Funding will be used to establish a pop-up site in South Auckland which will operate for 8-12 weeks as a pilot to determine viability of a more permanent restaurant in this area.

Organisation:  Oke Charity
Project: Establish outdoor sustainable gardens in two Auckland schools

Oke Charity provides kiwi kids the opportunity to learn life and social skills by introducing productive gardens into schools. The gardens empower pupils to grow essential life and social skills. Each Oke project provides a school with raised beds, a greenhouse, composting solutions, garden tools, irrigation, seeds and plants.

Organisation:  Rainbow Youth Incorporated
Project: Salary contribution for staff in the Auckland Care Support Team 

This Team provides support, information, resources and advocacy for the regions queer, gender diverse, takatāpui and intersex youth and their friends, whānau and community. The organisation provides a wide range of services to young people from support workshops and drop-in centres to attendance at events and online support.

Organisation:  Yellow Brick Road Charity
Project Titles: Stepping out for women workshop and support 

Funding will provide support for families who have a loved one experiencing mental health challenges. Via an Auckland based workshop, Yellow Brick Road Charity will deliver a positive development programme for women who need support, knowledge, advocacy and empowerment as they or someone they care for journeys towards mental wellbeing.

Organisation:  Auckland City Mission
Project Titles: Allocated funding between two projects:

‘Food security and Community Services’ provide food parcels to people in communities across Auckland with an emphasis on provision to the Papakura and the Manukau Urban Māori Authority (MUMA) Maraes. When an individual or family is unable to access food, they can access the Mission’s food parcels which are designed to feed a family or individual for four days to get them through an immediate crisis.

Funding will also support ‘Te Whare Hīnātore’ to deliver services for the Mission’s new programme exclusively for women and those who identify as women, experiencing homelessness. This essential service opened in February 2020 to provide a safe haven to house and care for vulnerable women for up to 12 weeks and help them into permanent accommodation.

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For more information contact:

Ruth Morse
Email: ruth.morse@procare.co.nz 
Mobile: +64 (0)21 263 1415

About the ProCare Foundation
The ProCare Foundation was established by the shareholders of ProCare who gifted over 90% of their shares to the Foundation in 2013. The purpose of the Foundation is to help promote the health and wellbeing of disadvantaged communities, deliver health-related activities that improve a community’s wellbeing, or reduce health inequalities and alleviate poverty and deprivation in the Auckland region. For more information about the Foundation and previous grant recipients, click here or visit www.procare.co.nz  

[1] Statistics New Zealand. COVID19’s impact on women and work. 4 November 2020. [www.stats.govt.nz/news/covid-19s-impact-on-women-and-work]