“Sing choir of angels, sing in exultation …” And sing our angels did – the City Mission Singers – who filled the Christchurch Transitional Cathedral with courage and songs on Wednesday evening. It was a magnificent evening where all the hopes and dreams of trying something new in our traditional celebration came true. Covid restrictions meant it had been two years since our last Carol Service and the Cathedral was full.
Read MoreIt has been a privilege to be part of the City Mission, as the City Missioner, since April of this year and in that time I have connected with the community at speaking engagements, business meetings, and public events every week – sometimes several times a week. The most common feedback from these talks is that people are amazed at the breadth of specialist support that our staff provide to our clients each day.
Read MoreOur first residents are moving into our new Whakaora Kāinga (transitional housing) building and we couldn’t be more excited and proud to see this amazing project finally get under way.
Whakaora Kāinga is at 275 Hereford Street – behind our new Thrive Café – and it is part of a $11m redevelopment that will take the quality of how we care for people to new levels. A new foodbank is still being completed and that will open in March-April 2023.
Read MoreThis year we will feature the inaugural performance of the Christchurch City Mission Choir, which includes very brave and committed people who have been homeless and in our emergency shelters and who use our drop-in day programmes. They will be joined by Mission volunteers and staff to sing the songs of Christmas we all love.
Everyone is welcome to attend the Carol Service at the Transitional Cathedral at 7pm on December 14.
Read MoreWhen Bob (not his real name) was hungry, a meal would be frozen peas put in a glass of hot water. He is a 77-year-old who was sent to our Foodbank for help by a support worker.
Along with the request came this heartbreaking photo of his fridge taken during a welfare check. The shock of those empty shelves really brings home what it means when people tell us they are struggling and food has to be low in their priorities.
Read MoreYou will have heard of the epidemic of mental health illness sweeping over our young people in Christchurch. It is very real and it is tearing lives and families apart. Here on the frontline we see the effects every day and past studies have suggested that typically someone with mental health/addiction problems can severely impact the lives of six others – family, workmates and friends.
Read MoreIf you roll yourself up in blankets just right - nice and tight - you can keep warm in the back of a car on a freezing winter night, says Gary Gribben.
Read MoreWe are proud and excited to announce that Corinne Haines, who has been filling in as our Interim City Missioner for the past two months, will now continue as our new Christchurch City Missioner.
Read MoreWinter is the hardest time for the people we care for. Everything that’s a problem in their lives seems harder when it’s colder and darker.
Read MoreOur Thrive Op Shops are an important part of who we are and what we do in Canterbury.
Read MoreA 3-storey building has risen from the ground on the cleared land opposite our Hereford Street headquarters and we can’t wait to start breathing life into it later this year.
Read MoreThere’s growing excitement here at the City Mission as we look forward to how our new redevelopment is going to enhance how we change the lives of people we care for.
Read MoreEvery now and then Hereford Street outside our Foodbank can be one of the busiest streets in Christchurch.
Cars can be seen queueing up to collect food parcels. As with the last lockdown, our Foodbank carries on because our City needs us.
Read MoreSingle parent Chrissy came to our Foodbank on a biting cold morning needing help and our hearts melted at her story.
Five men living in our emergency accommodation jumped at the chance yesterday to hop in a van and go to Ashburton to help a flood-hit farmer clear debris from his fences.
Read MoreWhen Daisy moved into her Christchurch flat, she bought a few things to celebrate finally having her own safe place. She picked out some plates and cups, linen for the bed, a couple of candles … and two pot plants.
Read MoreWork is now under way on a redevelopment of our 269-275 Hereford Street site which will transform how we help people get back on track with their lives after we have cared for them in crisis.
Read MoreMost banks will have stopped accepting cheques by the middle of this year. ANZ, the City Mission’s bank, is stopping from May 31.
Read MoreWe plan on 2021 being our biggest and best year yet in using our life and work skills sessions to lift clients’ lives and give them a new beginning.
Read MoreLucy’s family is herself and three boys. They live in a rental which the landlord has just sold so now they have to move. This, she says voice breaking, caps a year when everything went from bad to worse.
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