As most New Zealanders commemorate Anzac Day this weekend, a Tauranga social service agency will be quietly celebrating the first birthday of its "one-stop shop" for the city's most vulnerable.
Te Tuinga Whānau Support Services Trust has been providing wrap-around support to struggling community members at the Tauranga RSA motel since the Covid-19 crisis last year.
The support on offer includes a safe place to sleep, free meals and access to social workers and healthcare.
And just last week the Tauranga Returned Services Association made the call to extend the agency's contract, allowing it to occupy the motel for another year.
Te Tuinga Whānau executive director Tommy Wilson described the news as a "huge relief".
"We had no Plan B. There is nowhere else to go," he said.
"This is a huge relief for us as we would have had to find somewhere pre-winter, an almost impossible mission.
"We are a one-stop shop. It is a community centre, and long may it stay a community centre."
The Ministry of Housing and Urban Development would continue to pay for the rooms over the year, he said.
Tauranga RSA president Fred Milligan said the agreement with Te Tuinga Whānau aligned with its philosophy around welfare.
"This case here is an ideal one in many ways because we are helping the population around us – they had a problem – and we had the ability to help provide an answer.
"It helps these people get through the winter, which is a problem, and if you work it right it will also get them through the holiday period."
He said the committee's decision to extend the contract wasn't difficult, as it also helps keeps the RSA afloat.
"It is a godsend to us. We need the money, so it is very handy having that finance."
He previously told the Bay of Plenty Times when the country went into lockdown, that the future of the RSA building looked "dire", with no income through the usual source of the motel.
Te Tuinga Whānau social worker Sophia Murray said it had been able to house around 200 individuals at the motel over the past year.
The 22 rooms at the motel had been occupied by vulnerable families and individuals for most of the year.
"It has not come without its challenges. But between the Te Tuinga team, the RSA and security we have managed to provide a space that has kept everybody safe."
Most people spent about 12 weeks at the motel depending on their needs. However, Murray said this could be extended as winter approached. It was a place for them to stay until they found long-term accommodation.
"This is a place of reflection and healing, it is much more than an emergency motel."
She believed working alongside the RSA had been "hugely rewarding" for both parties.
"We are here, we sit alongside the RSA and we do it respectfully. It has been a hugely rewarding experience.
"We see those who make the connection back to whānau, get their own whare, their children are in school – and this is why I do this.
"There is a whole lot of people that sit in this space to create the magic," she said.
"We have ordered the houses and we are aiming to start transitions at the end of next year.
"That is where we want to get, otherwise we are just going in circles. It is a dream, and we are getting closer."
Anzac Day services across the Bay of Plenty
Tauranga Dawn Service
Tauranga RSA Cenotaph, 1237 Cameron Rd
• 5.45am – assemble at Hayes Ave
• 5.55am – march off
• 6am – service begins
Mount Maunganui Dawn Service
Mount Maunganui Cenotaph, Marine Parade (opposite Mount Drury)
• 5.45am – assemble at Mount Drury
• 5.55am – march off
• 6am – service begins
Tauranga Civic Memorial Service
Tauranga Memorial Park, Eleventh Ave
• 8.45am – assemble on the grass beside Queen Elizabeth Youth Centre
• 8.55am – march off
• 9am – service begins
Mount Maunganui Civic Memorial Service
Mount Maunganui Cenotaph, Marine Pde (opposite Mount Drury)
• 9.15am – assemble at Mt Drury
• 9.25am – march off
• 9.30am – service begins
Pāpāmoa Civic Memorial Service
Pāpāmoa Memorial, Stella Place beach carpark, Pāpāmoa Beach Rd
• 11.45am: assemble on the grass down from Pāpāmoa cenotaph, near Pāpāmoa Pony Club
• 11.55am: march off
• 12 noon: service begins
Pyes Pā Remembrance Service
Pyes Pā Cemetery, 403 Pyes Pa Rd
• 11am
Waihī Beach Dawn Service
Waihī Beach RSA, 99 Beach Rd
• 5.45am – fall-in parade
• 6am – service begins
Waihī Beach Civic Service
• 9.30am start
Ōmokoroa Dawn Service
Gerald Crapp Historic Reserve, 5 Gellibrand Pl, Ōmokoroa
• 6am start at the Memorial Cairn
Katikati Dawn Service
Katikati War Memorial Hall, Main Rd, Katikati
• 5.45am – assemble at the Talisman Hotel
• 5.55am – march to Katikati War Memorial Hall
• 6am – service begins
Te Puke Civic Service
Te Puke War Memorial Hall, 130 Jellicoe St, Te Puke
• March to War Memorial Hall at 9.50am
• 10am start
Maketū Dawn Service
In front of Anzac rock, Beach Rd, Maketū
• 5.45am – assemble at the Beach Rd carpark
• 5.55am – march to Anzac rock
• 6am – service begins