Christchurch City Mission

18/06/2026

“I used to hide the empty bottles all over the house. I lived alone and I would stand there in the room and say to myself – ‘who are you hiding them from Lorna, who?”

This is from a wonderful strong woman who came to us for help with her drinking problem and is now making a fresh start.

Lorna showed great courage in her willingness to take addiction on to regain control of her life and she remains deeply thankful for the support she received from our expert staff.

Lorna says telling her story helps her rise above the shame she felt about her drinking problem and she hopes to inspire others to do the same.

You can read her full story on our website here: https://www.citymission.org.nz/news/life-changing-call-for-help

16/06/2026

Lovely smiles from lovely people! Married couple Mike and Anne come to our foodbank two days a week to help us feed others and the retirees say they can’t think of a more worthwhile way to give back to their community.

We have more than 220 wonderful regular volunteers and National Volunteer Week is a great reminder of how much they contribute and how much we appreciate them all.

You can read Anne and Mike’s full story on our website here:

https://www.citymission.org.nz/news/a-couple-of-very-good-sorts

Mike and Anne are very special supporters. The married couple come to our foodbank to volunteer two days a week and they are a wonderful example of what volunteering contributes to our work.

14/06/2026

We are grateful throughout the entire year for our 220 plus volunteers. Not just because of the incredible work they do, but also because of how their compassion for others adds something very special to our City Mission culture.

Over a year they gift us 23,500 hours - just think about that! And they do it in 22 separate areas of our services.

It’s wonderful to have a national week when everyone celebrates volunteers and this week June 14-20 is National Volunteer Week.

We get to look beyond the bubble we work in and marvel at the incredible impact volunteers make across many organisations in this city and across the country.

It’s such a good thing for people to volunteers to support others and we all benefit from volunteers making our communities better and stronger.

Thank you to our large group of volunteers and thank you to every person who gives time to support others.❤️

10/06/2026

Our rough sleepers have feet problems all year round but winter brings its own special problems caused by feet being in damp socks and shoes all day and it’s very hard for them to keep them clean.

It can be even worse for people suffering from mental health issues who often walk long distances during the day. That’s a common activity because walking – sadly along with substance abuse – can be a way of calming the mind.

You can read more about the link between bad feet and poverty in this story on our website.

We are busy at the moment looking after many people in the hardest season and, as always, any support towards our work is so appreciated.

https://www.citymission.org.nz/news/walk-in-their-shoes

Bad feet are a significant symptom of poverty and homelessness. We see this in many of our clients and winter is the hardest of all seasons on feet.

10/06/2026

Look at just about all our foodbank photos and one thing you’ll spot is banana boxes. They are the lifeblood of how we store our food and how we hand it to our clients who use the pre-packed service.

We need help. We are running short of these vital boxes with lids, and we are asking for help to get more. Please!

More than 170 of these boxes are needed every week for food parcels and we’re running low on clean, sturdy produce boxes with both the top and bottom pieces.

If your business has banana or apple sized boxes available, or you have some at home, we’d love to take them off your hands and put them to good use.

We can pick them up, or you can drop the boxes off to the foodbank between 8:30am-4pm, Monday–Friday at 275 Hereford Street.

Please contact us at [email protected] if you can help.

Thank you for supporting local families.

08/06/2026

City Missioner Corinne Haines wasn’t hard to spot in her on-brand red coat at St Barnabas on Saturday - but a lot of the people who came to donate knew her anyway. It’s her home patch and parish!

Thank you so much to the generous locals who filled our truck and two vans with much-needed goods for our op shops.

Corinne enjoyed meeting everyone and is planning to be at the other two donation drives to come at Prebbleton next month and Lincoln in September.

04/06/2026

There’s something about the way the community comes together when our annual op shop donation drives are held at St Barnabas Church. It is so special to see.

When locals arrive to gift their household goods, many also stay a while to talk and share time with others.

It will be lovely to see this again on Saturday (June 6). Our op shop truck and vans are back at St Barnabas at the corner of Tui Street and Fendalton Road from 10am to 2pm.

We will gratefully accept clean, good quality clothing, footwear, linen, small electrical goods, books, tools, toys, kitchenware, homeware, plants and more. As you can see from the list, if you are unsure whether we can use what you don’t need any more, the answer is most likely yes.

BUT if it’s a big item or furniture – instead please contact the op shop on 03 365 0633 or [email protected] and they will collect it another day.

Some struggling people and families will benefit from your items and many others will benefit from the sale of the goods because all proceeds support our work. Thank you!

02/06/2026

Believe it or not, fingerless are the best gloves for people sleeping rough this winter. That’s because they let the hands stay useful while still keeping in the warmth.

As our Outreach Service expert Josh (hat and sunnies) says – once the tips of gloves get wet the gloves become useless in the cold.

Mitre 10 was contacted by one of our keen supporters Dan (wearing gloves) and next minute Ashleigh turned up in an orange ute with a donation of 100 fingerless gloves.

Just a few minutes later some of the gloves were heading out with Josh on his rounds and that night people slept a little warmer. Thank you to Mitre 10 and everyone who has our back this winter. ❤️

27/05/2026

We have had clients limp into our reception suffering from gangrene in their feet because of hard living conditions and an inability to care for them properly. That’s challenging for our nurses and hard to treat.

So when we started thinking about how we could describe the hardship we see for our Winter Appeal campaign we thought of using feet as an example of how the lives of those who are sleeping out and doing without can be so difficult.

Feet, footwear, walking gait – all can be such strong indicators of how someone can be struggling at a basic health level.

You can read our full story on this and many other stories about our work in winter in our latest City Mission magazine, which is available on our website.

https://www.citymission.org.nz/reach-out-winter-2026

The high fuel costs have made what was already going to be a hard winter even harder and we will need help to care for the people who will need us. Thank you to all our supporters. ❤️