November Update from DCM - Together we can end homelessness

• 29 Nov 2021
• Downtown Community Ministry
• 96 November Update from DCM - Together we can end homelessness p{ margin:10px 0; padding:0; } table{ border-collapse:collapse; } h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6{ display:block; margin:0; padding:0; } img,a img{ border:0; height:auto; outline:none; text-decoration:none; } body,#bodyTable,#bodyCell{ height:100%; margin:0; padding:0; width:100%; } .mcnPreviewText{ display:none !important; } #outlook a{ padding:0; } img{ -ms-interpolation-mode:bicubic; } table{ mso-table-lspace:0pt; mso-table-rspace:0pt; } .ReadMsgBody{ width:100%; } .ExternalClass{ width:100%; } p,a,li,td,blockquote{ mso-line-height-rule:exactly; } a[href^=tel],a[href^=sms]{ color:inherit; cursor:default; text-decoration:none; } p,a,li,td,body,table,blockquote{ -ms-text-size-adjust:100%; -webkit-text-size-adjust:100%; } .ExternalClass,.ExternalClass p,.ExternalClass td,.ExternalClass div,.ExternalClass span,.ExternalClass font{ line-height:100%; } a[x-apple-data-detectors]{ color:inherit !important; text-decoration:none !important; font-size:inherit !important; 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} } @media only screen and (max-width: 480px){ .mcnTextContent,.mcnBoxedTextContentColumn{ padding-right:18px !important; padding-left:18px !important; } } @media only screen and (max-width: 480px){ .mcnImageCardLeftImageContent,.mcnImageCardRightImageContent{ padding-right:18px !important; padding-bottom:0 !important; padding-left:18px !important; } } @media only screen and (max-width: 480px){ .mcpreview-image-uploader{ display:none !important; width:100% !important; } } @media only screen and (max-width: 480px){ h1{ font-size:30px !important; line-height:125% !important; } } @media only screen and (max-width: 480px){ h2{ font-size:26px !important; line-height:125% !important; } } @media only screen and (max-width: 480px){ h3{ font-size:20px !important; line-height:150% !important; } } @media only screen and (max-width: 480px){ h4{ font-size:18px !important; line-height:150% !important; } } @media only screen and (max-width: 480px){ .mcnBoxedTextContentContainer .mcnTextContent,.mcnBoxedTextContentContainer .mcnTextContent p{ font-size:14px !important; line-height:150% !important; } } @media only screen and (max-width: 480px){ .headerContainer .mcnTextContent,.headerContainer .mcnTextContent p{ font-size:16px !important; line-height:150% !important; } } @media only screen and (max-width: 480px){ .bodyContainer .mcnTextContent,.bodyContainer .mcnTextContent p{ font-size:16px !important; line-height:150% !important; } } @media only screen and (max-width: 480px){ .footerContainer .mcnTextContent,.footerContainer .mcnTextContent p{ font-size:14px !important; line-height:150% !important; } } Fiona's story Fiona's story My name is Fiona, and I am very proud to be part of the team at DCM. I can’t tell you how much it has meant to me to have this job, and I just love it! But I have always been a worker. I was born in Christchurch in 1962; I was the only girl and grew up with my six brothers. We had to earn our own money because mum and dad were pretty broke. Dad was a slaughter man but it was seasonal work, and my mum was a nurse. We used to go around the streets with home grown veges in a wheelbarrow, my brothers and I. We did raspberry picking on weekends, and I had a paper round. I then went into the shearing sheds, shearing sheep with my brothers. From the age of 15, I was a gang member. Robert Muldoon set up a scheme to help gangs back then, to help them get into work and off the street. I started my apprenticeship to become a chef – it took four years: the first year in the vege room, the second year washing dishes, third year kitchen-hand and in the fourth year I went from third cook, to second to first cook. My gangster career ended when I got a long prison sentence. I made the decision right there and then: I don’t need the gang. I would stand on my own two feet – finally. I used the system to better myself. I joined kapa haka which built my confidence and self-esteem. I put my head down, supported myself in prison by bone carving, and went to all the groups I could think of to sort out my issues. I sat School Cert and academically I grew. But after all those years in jail, when I got out, I realised I still needed to grow emotionally. DCM was there for me when I needed them most. Let me tell you about that. I moved to Wellington 12 years ago where I married my husband. He got cancer and I looked after him for 3 months before he passed away. That led to me abusing alcohol. I moved to a one bedroom flat in Island Bay where I thought I could start over but things went downhill from there. I lost my job, didn’t pay my rent and found myself on the verge of homelessness, and suicide. My power was getting cut off and I was told that I couldn’t go on a benefit for 13 weeks. I heard about this organisation in the city called DCM, so I walked in from Island Bay, asking for help along the way. I believe if I didn’t come down Lukes Lane that day, I would have given up there and then. That’s when my life changed. DCM worked with me to help me get into a new place which I’m still in today. I got on to DCM’s money management programme which helped me pay my rent and bills on time, and debts as well. I’m debt-free today! And I have savings for the first time too. It’s amazing. There are many other great memories of my time as taumai at DCM. The Te Reo classes were very special, and I just loved being part of the DCM Ukes - the rehearsals at Wesley Church, performing at Thanksgiving and other events at DCM. I got a lot out of the self-management for health and wellbeing course I did at DCM too. Yup, DCM supported me when I needed it most, and now I am honoured to be able to support other taumai. I began by volunteering to cook at the DCM Bookfair. On Christmas Day I was part of the team at Te Aro Community Centre feeding the whānau. Then DCM started running peer support courses, and several of the team suggested that I should take part. After the course, I finished off my CV and applied for some of the roles going. I started as a paid support worker – a kaiawhina – at DCM in February 2020, just before the COVID lock-down. During the first lock-down I was working with taumai in emergency housing. We were mainly at the old Night Shelter, doing welfare checks, and other peer support work. Back at DCM, it has just been brilliant. I love the whānau! And especially the equality – being treated the same. I’ve worked all my life but I have never before been in an environment where people are treated as equally as they are at DCM. Peer support can cover a whole lot of tasks. I can be working in Te Hāpai in the mornings, interacting with taumai. I’m there to listen, observe and support. In the afternoons, I may be out with other kaimahi on home visits. We have a lot of taumai who have recently been housed, and we go in to support them. I do the basics – cleaning and showing taumai how to clean. We’ve dealt with hoarders, people who have a lot of challenges, and people who don’t even know how to cook a piece of toast. But generally our taumai take great pride in their whare. They just need the utensils. I ask them what their favourite food is. If it’s scrambled eggs, we make sure they have a frying pan and a whisk, along with some of the basics we take for granted, like a toaster or a microwave. And I love the “Welcome to Your Whare” packs which DCM puts together for people moving in to a home. All those cleaning items are expensive for taumai. Providing them with the basics, and seeing the pride on their faces when they ki te hoe (pick up the paddle), and take care of their own whare, that is a special privilege. I am able to do more and more, to take the initiative. I have a clean driver’s licence, so I can help with driving, shopping, deliveries and home visits. I have finished a Literacy Aotearoa course and am three-quarters of the way through achieving a certificate in health and wellbeing which Paula has been helping me with. I want to do to anything I can to keep developing my skills. Because DCM has given me an amazing opportunity, and I want to grab it with both hands, and to really play my part on this very special team. Most of my work now is with the Aro Mai Housing First team, supporting people who have long histories of homelessness. Photo shoot by Gabrielle McKone. Let me tell you about one man we have housed recently. Patrick* is a long-term rough sleeper who struggles with a critical mental health condition and severe substance abuse, as well as the after-effects of traumatic experiences from his childhood. Now he has his own home – thanks to a local landlord who provided the team with a whare. Twice each week I head out with Patrick’s keyworker to check in on him; we make sure he is doing okay and looking after his whare. To begin with, there was so much about living in a house that he didn’t understand. He didn’t know how to take the washing out of the machine, hold a vacuum cleaner or wipe the benches down. It is the simple stuff that we can show him, and which makes such a difference. Things like what to do with cigarette butts – you don’t drop them on the floor when you have a whare. And we celebrate the small changes – like rather than leaving his dirty clothes scattered all over the floor, he now puts them into his washing basket. Yes, now he is really looking after his home – it looks great. This year I have also been double vaccinated – right here at DCM. It wasn’t easy for me, and it took a while to make the decision. But then we had a vaccine day with Bronwyn from Te Aro Health. I know and trust her and her team, and then I saw taumai who were getting their vaccines and they were so brave. Finally, my fellow kaiawhina Rochelle encouraged me, and we decided to do it together. I am so pleased that we did, because we can now support our taumai, and we know how much they are going to need our support when COVID hits Wellington. Our work will be even more important, and much needed.  Our ultimate goal is to end homelessness and I believe we will get there. We’re all part of the solution. And the work we do here at DCM is a major part of that solution. I am proud and privileged to be part of this team. <!-- --> Jordon Jordon was recently housed thanks to another local landlord who provided a whare, and the support of our Aro Mai Housing First team. This is the first time Jordon has been housed in over a decade. When her keyworker Bella asked her what the best part of having her own whare is, she shared “Having my very own bed - being on the streets is really hard”. We love to be able to lift up taumai like Jordon who have done the hard mahi needed to get housed. Bella was able to take her out shopping thanks to those of you have have donated vouchers. Jordon got herself some items for her bathroom, sheets and two new pillows. “I am excited to be able to put bedding on the spare bed so that I can have family to come stay, hopefully my youngest son... Thank you so much guys, I really appreciate it.” Ka mau te wehi Jordon! <!-- --> Acknowledging David Zwartz At DCM’s AGM this month, we were able to acknowledge the contribution of retiring board member, David Zwartz, who joined the DCM board in 2005. A member of Temple Sinai and a past President of the New Zealand Jewish Council, David has been a passionate advocate for interfaith cooperation. He is proud of the different perspectives which are now involved in DCM’s governance, and hopes that this will continue to widen. Thank you David for all your mahi on behalf of the most marginalised people in our community. <!-- --> Re-stocking our Foodbank Kia ora rawa atu ki a koutou! Thank you to everyone who purchased items for our Foodbank re-stock on Saturday, to New World Chaffers and Wesley Church for providing the venues, and to our lovely team of volunteers who gave up their time to collect the items and sort them. If you weren’t able to get down to the city last weekend, we would love any groceries you are able to drop in to our collection bin at New World Chaffers. And our friends at Ngaio Union Church accept donations for our Foodbank on the first Saturday morning of each month. That means that you can drop some items to them this weekend.  <!-- --> How can I help? As we look ahead to 2022, and a time when COVID will be in our communities and a part of our daily lives, we know that the people DCM supports will be the most impacted. They will need our support more than ever as they experience illness and isolation, many of them without any family support. If you would like to make a donation to DCM this Christmas so that we can continue to provide this level of support to the most vulnerable in the year ahead, please visit our website. If you are, or know, a landlord who would like to speak with us about providing a home for people like Patrick and Jordon, our Director, Stephen Turnock would love to hear from you. Together, and at the most challenging of times, we will continue to do something very special. <!-- --> *Not his real name. We call the people we work with taumai, meaning to settle. This reflects the journey we set out on together – to become settled, stable and well.   Support DCM! Nāku te rourou, nāu te rourou, ka ora ai te iwi With your basket and my basket, the people will thrive <!-- --> Copyright © 2021 DCM. All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: DCMPO Box 6133Marion SqWellington, Wellington 6011 New ZealandAdd us to your address book Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.
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Ngaio, Wellington, Wellington City, Wellington, New Zealand (OpenStreetMap)