As you may be aware Open House does a bus pick-up to take children to a local primary school each day of the week. This service has now been running for a few years now, and we are hoping that this will continue if funding is secured. The following is a story of the wider impact this service is having on a family.

One of the families that we go to has five primary school children living with their grandparents who are the primary carers. Tragically earlier this year the grandfather suddenly died. We were able to get full funding to pay for all the funeral expenses. We were also able to get a minister who was known to the family and children to lead the funeral at no cost. We have been able to provide ongoing support to Mary (name changed) and her children with meals and food.

In October this year, Empower Church, who have their youth group at Open House on a Friday night, asked if there were any needs that they could support practically. The outcome of this was that the church brought in a team of people to do a massive clean-up of this family’s garden to make it easier for the children to play outside. The church also bought and installed a new swing set for the children. The oldest girl is now attending their youth group and loves it. The family also attends Malahang Reserve whenever they can and they are a much loved part of the Open House family. We have also organised a food hamper and gifts for each of the children for Christmas with the generous support of 3 churches that have donated food hampers and toys.

“Mary is very thankful for all the support she is getting from Open House."