95 years of helping those in need

We are 95 today and the five-year countdown begins to our big centenary celebration.

First City Missioner, Percy Revell

The Christchurch City Mission’s history is richly entwined with that of the city and we have shared the journey of ups and downs and growth that Christchurch has experienced over the same period.

Right from our very beginnings, led by City Missioner Percy Revell (pictured above), the city embraced us and supported us with funding because we were a key social service agency that was here to look after everyone without judgment, no matter what their circumstances. That hasn’t changed throughout the decades which have followed.

Our official opening was held on November 7, 1929, and we were part of the answer to the economic misery of the job losses of the Great Depression. At the very start, our focus was food and comfort, but homelessness was a growing issue and we quickly moved to provide support for that too.

Christchurch City Mission’s first emergency accommodation in 1931 on Antigua Street.

This house – formerly 199 Antigua Street - represents our first building expansion, in 1931, when the city backed us with donations and grants to buy it and establish an emergency night shelter for homeless men. The house was two-storey with many big rooms, divided into dormitories.

We started with 24 beds, but by covering the verandas with canvas and putting out stretcher beds, that was quickly bumped up to 40. We have always adapted quickly and focused on taking direct action to help. To staff it, we used a rota of young men, two from each parish, who acted as orderlies and slept at the guest house if possible.

Meals were cooked by the permanent caretaker and his wife on a large gas cooker and the residents ate plenty of hearty soup, thanks probably to the generosity of a Christchurch resident, who donated three bullock heads to the Mission every week.

City Missioner Corinne Haines says “our strong focus on food, and accommodation for homeless, has continued and that is unlikely to change. What is different now is the much wider range of wrap-around services we provide – which is again a reflection of The City Mission responding to current needs. Today  the people who come to us for help have more complex and time-consuming needs.

“It would be wonderful if the City Mission wasn’t required because the need for our support had gone away. But after 95 years, it is sadly evident that’s not going to happen, and our work will continue to be vital in our community. A 100-year birthday is inevitable and at that time we will celebrate with all our supporters the work we have done over those 100 years.”