Cambridge Community House, struggling to meet increasing demand for its services, must replace the roof on one of its older buildings.
Cambridge Community House manager Gabby Byrne outside the building in urgent need of a new roof. Photo: Viv Posselt
The timing isn’t great, but it must be done and preferably by the end of the year, house manager Gabby Byrne told The News last week.
The organisation supports the community through a range of services, including counselling, financial mentoring, alcohol and drug counselling and food support. The team is already working at full tilt, due largely to the ongoing fallout from Covid and a lasting economic squeeze. Byrne said the need continues to grow.
“The referrals to the agency are up 40 per cent from two years ago and when people come in now, they are generally needing support from more than one of our teams. We’re all being used to capacity… I’m right into another strategic planning phase now.”
The new roof is needed on an old prefab building that has been part of the house complex in Shakespeare St for 15 years. It had been a classroom in its previous life, and when the community house was doing its most recent renovations on-site, Byrne was given the heads up that the roof on the prefab wouldn’t last much longer.
“It was showing signs of leaking. When we went to clear the attic, we found evidence of rat activity – we dealt to that – and some leakage. We have to keep abreast of the problem before it becomes too big for us to handle.”
CCH’s original villa was built in the early 1900s. The prefab was moved to the site in 2010, a large renovation was added in 2020 and a new whānau whare opened early last year.
The prefab is the biggest single space in the complex and is in constant use by various groups, including the Brain Injury Group, the Cancer Support Group, a community room, food distribution, a school uniform shop, drug and alcohol groups, and mental wellbeing groups. It is self-contained, has kitchen and toilet facilities, is separately alarmed and can be rented out to likeminded organisations.
Byrne said they have been given money from the Mayoral Discretionary Fund – that came on the back of a visit to CCH by Mayor Susan O’Regan.
“We’re very grateful for that, but we need to find another $5000 to complete the job. The whole of the corrugated iron roof needs replaced. The building was fully renovated inside last year … we need to protect that investment.
She outlined fund raising plans, including a film screening.
“We are very lucky in this community, we get a lot of support in kind, but this time we need to raise the money.”
Cambridge Community House manager Gabby Byrne outside the building in urgent need of a new roof.
