Kaikohe<\/a> community chaplain Monte Tito was always destined to be a guiding light for the underprivileged. <\/p>\nFor four decades, the 72-year-old has been helping the homeless, struggling families, meth addicts, and inmates discharged from Ng\u0101wh\u0101 prison. <\/p>\n
He started when he was a 33-year-old painter, soon after a fight broke out at his local pub. <\/p>\n
Tito turned to his mate, who said, \u201cWe could help change this by getting people out of unemployment and into employment.\u201d <\/p>\n
That resulted in the establishment of Te Kotahitanga e Mahi Kaha Trust, which helps people into training programmes and jobs. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe had all the gangs in there,\u201d Tito said. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe said, \u2018When you come through those gates, you don\u2019t bring your patches; this is a trust.\u2019 <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s something that\u2019s still operating today, still employing a lot of people. <\/p>\n
\u201cThis has changed men\u2019s lives.\u201d <\/p>\n
Later, Tito worked at the Northland Region Corrections Facility at Ng\u0101wh\u0101, teaching prisoners his painting trade. <\/p>\n
His work has evolved since then; he now works as a Kaikohe community chaplain, helping lost souls who live on the streets and under trees at the local park. <\/p>\n
There are the couch-surfers who move from house to house, unable to stay in one place because of their addictions. <\/p>\n
One of the biggest factors in homelessness was P, he said. <\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone has their pain. It\u2019s [having faith] giving them a way of dealing with that pain. <\/p>\n
\u201cA lot are finding peace in a P pipe, and that\u2019s so sad.\u201d <\/p>\n
Tito delivers food parcels to families struggling to make ends meet. <\/p>\n
With the rise in the cost of living and rents, some can be left with just $60 a week to feed five or six people. <\/p>\n
These families amount to \u201cover 100 people, sometimes more\u201d. <\/p>\n
Tito works alongside charities including The Koha Shop in Kaikohe to distribute furniture, clothing and homeware. <\/p>\n
He calls the shop, whose motto is take what you need and give what you can, \u201ca blessing\u201d. <\/p>\n
\u201cThey always ask me why I do it. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s the love for people in the community. <\/p>\n
\u201cFirst and foremost, we have to love one another. <\/p>\n
\u201cAnd share the love of God with our people.\u201d <\/p>\n
![\"Liz]()
Liz Cassidy-Canning’s work at Whare \u0100whina takes a multi-faceted approach to helping Whang\u0101rei\u2019s homeless.<\/p>\n
Liz Cassidy-Canning<\/p>\n
Liz Cassidy-Canning\u2019s life experiences have helped to shape a career in social work embedded in aroha. <\/p>\n
As a young adult, she witnessed inequities, poverty and privilege in her wh\u0101nau. <\/p>\n
Now the chief executive of Whare \u0100whina, a Whang\u0101rei-based kaupapa M\u0101ori support provider, she helps men and women to overcome their housing challenges. <\/p>\n
She never calls them homeless; with all her years working with society\u2019s most vulnerable, she calls them only by name. <\/p>\n
\u201cAt one time, if I saw someone sitting on the pavement, I would have walked by. <\/p>\n
\u201cNow I don\u2019t, and often I\u2019ll stop and talk because I know them by name.\u201d <\/p>\n
Cassidy-Canning grew up in South Auckland, and always knew she was meant to help others. <\/p>\n
Her two sisters are social workers, and her mother and grandmother were \u201chelpers\u201d. <\/p>\n
Cassidy-Canning initially studied law at university but decided on grass-roots social work. <\/p>\n
\u201cThere is power in community,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe power comes from unity and connecting, and I see magic in that. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt opens up your world.\u201d <\/p>\n
She has worked for numerous community organisations in Whang\u0101rei, including One Double Five Community House. <\/p>\n
Since she\u2019s been at the helm of Whare \u0100whina, the charity has grown from eight staff to about 40.<\/p>\n
She calls her team of community change makers, lawyers and social workers \u201csilent heroes\u201d. <\/p>\n
She enjoys sharing the success stories of those they help. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhen they come into the community cafe, they feel like part of the community. <\/p>\n
\u201cThat in itself is transformational. <\/p>\n
\u201cThey start connecting with each other and find solutions for each other and become each other\u2019s support network.\u201d <\/p>\n
Cassidy-Canning is also involved in food rescue, dropping food off at p\u0101taka kai around town. <\/p>\n
\u201cAt the end of the day, we\u2019re helping with immediacy. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhen someone needs something, we can work with them to navigate that space. <\/p>\n
\u201cAnd we can do simple things like give them some food. <\/p>\n
\u201cListening and having conversations is what people value the most.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jenny Ling is a senior journalist at the Northern Advocate. She has a special interest in covering human interest stories, along with finance, roading, and social issues.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"She got mixed up with a gang and spent many more years living \u201cin survival mode\u201d. Even after…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":46623,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[95,1259,40869,40867,39881,8455,305,24308,30538,7561,9437,3339,4493,1967,76,39164,700,40868,6187,4188,15973,28874,111,43,139,529,1067,11225,4061,69,2847,35481,384,8393,1560,6448,9434,418,40865,301,8475,165,1529,8733,1869,1339,40866],"class_list":["post-48580","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-and","tag-community","tag-dedicated","tag-developments","tag-districts","tag-getting","tag-have","tag-headon","tag-helping","tag-heroes","tag-homelessness","tag-housing","tag-increased","tag-insights","tag-issue","tag-jenny","tag-latest","tag-ling","tag-lives","tag-living","tag-longstanding","tag-ministry","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-north","tag-northland","tag-northlanders","tag-number","tag-nz","tag-only","tag-particularly","tag-people","tag-poverty","tag-report","tag-reporter","tag-shelter","tag-shows","tag-tackle","tag-talks","tag-thats","tag-their","tag-three","tag-urban","tag-whangrei","tag-without","tag-worse"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48580","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48580"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48580\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46623"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48580"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48580"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48580"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}