Potatoes and God’s provision: a transitional housing story in Masterton

In collaboration with Project Manaaki, a group that works to support the homeless community in Masterton, some parishioners from St Matthew’s have been involved in getting a transitional house up and running in their community.

Wendy Thornburrow

The story for the house in Elizabeth Street began in 2019 when a meeting was called for those in the community who had a heart for the homeless in Masterton. As we looked for a suitable place for a night shelter, we opened a day shelter operating out of the old hall at the rear of the St Matthew’s property. It is still running and opens three days per week for a couple of hours in the afternoon where the homeless in Masterton can come and have a hot meal and a shower, do their washing, charge their phones, and generally just sit and sleep in a safe space.

The day shelter was only meant to be an interim answer until we could find a place to give these people somewhere to sleep. In early July this year we found a suitable property – the house on Elizabeth Street. As chairperson of the committee, I was not particularly excited about this house and couldn’t see how we were going to purchase it anyway – we only had $1,000 in the bank!

We talked about a transitional house instead of a shelter. A place where the homeless are helped and given the life skills to be able to eventually live in their own accommodation. Despite my apprehensions, the committee voted to try to purchase the house. This meeting was on a Thursday; I left the meeting thinking there was no way that we could get it. As I was driving home, God spoke to me very clearly and He said, “You have two freehold houses in Masterton, what are you going to do about it?”

I spoke to my son thinking he would tell me I was off my rocker, but his response was, “That’s a good idea Mum. It won’t matter if you lose a bit of money as you will be helping people”. By the Friday evening I had put an offer in on the house. On Sunday I went to church and a parishioner came up to me and asked me what was happening as God had been talking to her about helping the homeless in some way. She then asked if I had put an offer in on the house and I replied in the affirmative. She responded, “The $400,000 is there if you want it”.

I nearly fell over, but I thought that it would be easier to set up a mortgage with the bank than loan from her so I thanked her for the wonderful offer but declined. I drove home from church very humbled to think that God cared so much for the homeless in Masterton – much more than I cared.

Then came a whole string of miracles as we discovered that the house was on a deadline sale the following Thursday. There was no way the answer about the mortgage was going to be through from the bank so I had to go back to those people and ask if they would be guarantors for the money so we could put in an unconditional offer. Exactly one week after the committee meeting, we had bought the house.

We are still awaiting Council permits but in the meantime we have been busy applying for funding and are continually blown away by how much God wants this house. The response from the community has been mind-blowing and much of the work needing to be done on the house will be done voluntarily.

The house will accommodate four people and there will be a room for a night supervisor. There will be three singles and one double cabin on the section which will accommodate another five people.

God continues to bless this venture, way beyond anything we could have expected. We are not officially a church project, but we are very grateful for all the support from our local churches. I am so proud of how St Matthew’s has embraced this project, both personally and corporately.

We are continuing to seek funding from any source we can find to cover the running costs of the house, and maybe, in the future, a second house!

Ana Whiteacre-Burt

To help raise funds to get the Elizabeth Street house running, Women of Faith Ministries wanted to do a fundraiser with Project Manaaki. My mother-in-law, Jenny, and I knew how fun and successful a potato-growing competition could be from having run them at Masterton Hospital. We also loved that growing potatoes is a lot like having faith in God – that it is believing without seeing.

We have sold 170 buckets for the competition, with more interest than buckets available. God has given me such passion in my heart for this event, to help Project Manaaki, to create fellowship, and to share our love for Jesus. You can see God’s hand on this event. We have had many donations for competition prizes, and we have also received a lot of public interest about this event and Project Manaaki.

On the 6th of December from 11:30am-2pm, St Matthew’s will join with Women of Faith Ministries for a Christmas family BBQ held at the church and open to the whole community. We are wanting to have a fun day together which is so needed for many people that have been isolated over this Covid-19 period. This event is free with a koha towards Project Manaaki.

By Wendy Thornburrow and Ana Whiteacre-Burt