Reflecting on 2025: A Message from our Manahautū
The end of the year is upon us – and what a year it has been!
When I sat down to write this December mailer, my first thought was to compare where things were at the start of the year with where we are now. I even began writing about the surprising – but encouraging – U-turn we saw from the Government mid-year, when they suddenly realised there was a homelessness issue!
I considered whether an end-of-year message should include a statistic about how many Wellingtonians we believe will spend Christmas on the street or in their car (more than 120), or how many people are still waiting to be picked off the social housing register and offered a home. That’s 20,000 across Aotearoa and over 1,600 in the Wellington region alone.
I thought about mentioning the number of people DCM supported at the beginning of 2025 who were rough sleeping, and who – through our mahi – now have a roof over their head (around 60). Or how many people we helped with kai parcels (over 600), access to income through our money management service (67), or counselling through our one-to-one and group therapy service, Te Awatea (over 130). Perhaps I could share how many people came through our Te Hāpai space this year (over 900), and even how many kilos of coffee we went through in that time (over 200kgs).
Or what if I told you 550 Hope Holders (regular givers), generous donors, and funding partners got in behind us and provided pūtea that allowed us to carry out this essential mahi.
There are so many things I could write about in this Christmas message that I’m not sure I could fit them all into one mailer! So perhaps I’ll just say this – thank you.
Thank you for every way you’ve partnered with us this year:
For every time you read our newsletter or social media posts and shared them with someone else.
For every time you saw someone sleeping rough and took the time to let us know.
For every prayer for breakthrough in seemingly impossible situations, and for barriers to be removed so resources can flow to those who need them most.
For every time you considered your finances and chose to share some of what you have with us so we could keep doing this essential work.
We are grateful to every person, whānau, business, grantor, and funding agency that partnered with DCM this year to help us achieve our ambitious vision: whānau living in communities where they are housed, connected, valued, and thriving.
The warmest wishes to you and your whānau as you celebrate this special time of year. I look forward to continuing our partnership in 2026!
Ngā manaakitanga
Natalia Cleland