Volunteers may have to disband

Press, 26 November 1979, Page 6

Volunteers may have to disband

The Christchurch branch! of Community Volunteers, | the volunteer welfare group, may be forced to wind up| because of a sharp reduction in funds from the Christchurch City Council and Government sources. A Community Volunteerspokesman (Mr M. J. Cree)! yesterday accused the coun-‘ cil’s recreation and com- 1 [munity development consul-! Itative committee of victi■rnising small welfare groups.] “By the shrewd use of: screening measures the coun- 1 I cil committee has secretly ■ altered the entire pattern of : local recreation and welfare [funding,” he said. ‘ The grant announced last [week as $2OOO, a drop from ■ the $5OOO given to the group ■ in previous years. I As the main source of income, said Mr Cree, $2OOOl

11 would not even cover the , annual subsistence income , of a single full-time voluni ■ teer. i Community Volunteers will • meet council representatives I on Wednesday for discussions. Mr Cree was not hope■lful of receiving any more rfunds and said the meeting: ■ could signal the end of Com-, - munity Volunteers, soon] ■after Christmas. The organisation, set up ini .11972, now has four full-time! [I volunteers in Christchurch, -i employed on a “subsistence . wage” of S6C a week, fI The idea of Community ! Volunteers was to help establish welfare projects which t eventually would be taken on i by people directly involved, > said Mr Cree. Among the 50 such projects ■ in Christchurch are the ShirII ley Community Centre, the

Sumner Women’s Centre, recreation programmes for disabled people, and home support for discharged Sunnyside Hospital patients. A garage sale in the Manchester Street Car-park, organised by Community Volunteers on Saturday, was a I final bid to raise much- ■ needed funds. It was a flop, raising only $4O, said Mr [Cree. He suggested other groups could fall victim to a “new bias” in the, allocation of funds by the committee. “Self-help groups cannot survive when faced with the power and status of wealthy commercial bodies and big sporting clubs,” he said. While active sports had been allocated $70,550 welfare groups received only $32,600.

“They are obviously trying to support the big projects which people can see, like biuldings.” Mr Cree challenged at least three facets of the committee’s work. These were “poor representation of smaller welfare groups, the use of secret criteria and methods, and the failure to consult directly with applicants on an equal and open basis.” He pointed to cost savings in the work done by volunteers motivated solely by dedication and prepared to carry their own financial loss.

The alternative was employing social workers paid at salaries determined by their professional status. The chairman of the council’s committee (Mr M. B. Hayes) said last evening it had made “a very honest attempt to distribute the amount of money available as fairly as possible.” ■ Obviously, not all groups I could receive the amount they required, he said, but he denied any bias towards larger organisations. The committee’s membership had given it “a very good knowledge of Christchurch and its organisations,” said Mr Hayes, a former Town Clerk of Christchurch. The committee has three members who are city councillors, and one representative each of the Christchurch ‘District Council of Social Services, Christchurch Community Arts Council, and the (Canterbury Sports Foundation.