Funding cuts hitting some at-risk children's programmes are a "colossal and potentially fatal" blow according to the founder of one Hawke's Bay trust which is battling on regardless to avoid letting down the often already let-down children in its care.
Ros Rowe, of the Leg-Up Trust, which has been running programmes with horses and young people for 14 years, was commenting in a newsletter to supporters after being told on Thursday that funding won't be available for new the school term.
The trust had to consider canning the programme for troubled children referred by Social Workers in Schools, a Government initiative run by non-profit agency Family Works, but Mrs Rowe said that would mean telling the children they would never see their "beloved horses" again.
The last thing these kids need is apparent betrayal by people they trust.
Yesterday she told Hawke's Bay Today that an accountant, who is also a member of the trust, "crunched the numbers" and recommended the work carry on "free of charge" and that the trust could "worry about the rest later".