After a rocky few years, staff at Wanganui's Prisoners' Aid and Rehabilitation Society (Pars) are relieved to have another year's funding in place, manager Steve Treloar says.
He and Pamela Barns work part-time to keep the door of their Ridgway Street office open for prisoners and ex-prisoners with problems.
Their funding was due to end on June 30, but last Friday Mr Treloar was told the organisation was getting another grant from the Corrections Department.
The funding is about 25 per cent down on what is needed, and he will be applying for grants and donations. That has worked in the past, despite prisoners' aid being an "unsexy" cause.
"I can't think of anything that would come under us in terms of attracting the community dollar," he said.
The grant does give Pars enough security to allow him to look for another part-time staff member.
There have been some upheavals in the organisation's history. In February 2010, a trust took over its funding and employment, and the Wanganui society was relegated to an advisory function. The trust was liquidated three years later, with staff made redundant in December 2013.
The local society regained the contract from Corrections and is now the employer again. Staff report to it regularly, which Mr Treloar thinks is good.
"We work within the local community and should be accountable to them, to keep the community safer."
In Wanganui, Pars specialises in managing the cases of serious and long-term offenders, including convicted sex offender Stuart Murray Wilson.
But it keeps an open door for any prisoner or former prisoner with a problem. They can come in and talk confidentially about how they are feeling, their family relationships and what the temptations are.
"Often you only get one chance to sort out a problem in a safe environment, or people take care of the problem themselves," said Mr Treloar, now in his 26th year with Pars.