kiaKAHA - Hope for the Hope-Less Charitable Trust

WHARE O TE MANAWA ORA /THE HOUSE OF HOPE - will be a Daytime Drop-in Centre in Manukau – open from 6am – 10pm and will be like a home for the homeless and will keep them off the street and out of trouble during those 16 hours of the day. (Accommodation to come later, but that will take longer with Council Consents etc required, whereas this Centre can open immediately - as soon as we lease a building - and begin to create home and community and build relationship with/restoration of the homeless). It will have a Library area/card games and board games/a music area with guitars etc/a quiet room with comfy furniture that they can sleep on during the day if they want to / a kitchen area with a stove for cooking classes / tables for teaching Te Reo, TIkanga Maori, literacy classes / areas for wood carving / art therapy / a meeting room for WINZ or Housing First etc to come and meet with people there…….etc etc. There will be storage lockers, a shower and laundry area. The community will be encouraged to get involved with these different classes etc and we would also become involved in Community Projects eg getting an overgrown ugly area from Council and converting it into an Organic Community Garden / community beautification projects / having maintenance-building teaching and then going out to repair elderly peoples’ homes or fences etc / working to mow lawns or garden etc / teaching Barista skills and maybe even opening our own Café etc (being able to give employment to ex convicts etc etc). Our approach goes far beyond just putting people into housing or giving them a bed overnight - it will restore the homeless back into community and work. It is a holistic approach to include physical, mental, emotional and spiritual restoration and healing. The opposite of addiction is not sobriety – it is connection. We will re-connect the homeless by creating whanau and community, addressing their trauma and brokenness as well as their homelessness - and bringing out/furthering their talents and skills to give them hope and a productive future.

We are raising approx. $750,000 funding to cover facility lease costs, setting up the building/office, any refurb required, brochures and advertising/marketing (plus salary for staff and security) and continue fundraising to cover fit-out and continued building lease and overhead costs etc. Donations also fund our continued work out on the streets with the homeless - giving food, clothing, medicine, advocacy, and supporting, encouraging and accompanying/connecting them to help/other Agencies where possible. (Numbers of homeless fluctuate between 30 -80+ with many homeless coming into Manukau from the other suburbs in Auckland).

Check out our stories on our Facebook page: kiaKAHA - Hope for the Hope-Less Charitable Trust and our website www.kiakahahopeforthehope-less.org.nz