Age Concern Whangarei fears it will have to start slashing vital services for the district's elderly as it faces a $250,000 funding shortfall.
The organisation's president Beryl Wilkinson is in a spin trying to juggle dwindling resources while maintaining services for the elderly - she says it's a big struggle and something will have to give.
Ms Wilkinson said she needed about $350,000 a year to run the operation - "and that's running things as prudently as possible and accounting for every dollar" - but had only raised $100,000 for this year.
She said 16.9 per cent of Whangarei's population is aged 65 or over - one of the highest rates in the country - and Age Concern provided services to anyone who needed it, including home maintenance, health promotion/education, field work, dedicated carer relief, resources, advice and advocacy.
Age Concern did have two contracts with the Northland District Health Board but one (SCOPE, Supporting Community wellness for Older People in their Environment) had been cancelled and the other (home maintenance) was under review.