Community
SBS Bank has increased its partnership support with the Southland Loss and Grief Centre as it looks to make a difference in Southland.
SBS Bank chief executive Shaun Drylie said the bank first became involved in 2018, and last year provided funding for a new support worker for elderly care services and counselling care.
“We recognise the amazing work they’re doing so it’s great to be able to increase support again.
“Caroline and her team do a fantastic job around Southland in meeting the growing need for their services. The organisation has been able to tap into something special and is making a real difference in our communities,” Mr Drylie said.
Centre director Caroline Loo said the expansion of the partnership came at a “perfect time”.
“We’ve seen an increased need for our services over the past 18 months because of major traumatic events and suicides. Last year we had 184 referrals for our Community Care Service, in which we support people in their homes. We had more than 6500 connections or requests for support come through our service and each week we get at least 15 referrals from people we haven’t met before.
“There’s also a huge amount of travel required that has placed huge pressure on our resources.”
The goal was to continue to grow an existing service that provides “drop in” monthly visits in Te Anau, Mataura, Winton and weekly visits in Gore, as well as one-on-one visits in people’s homes as required.
“We are so grateful to SBS Bank for their ongoing support as we have got our centre up and running in Invercargill and expanding to other areas of Southland. Our partnership with SBS has been an integral part of helping us grow our support and counselling services for the whole Southland community.
Mr Drylie said the partnership with the centre strongly aligned to one of the bank’s key “Well-being” focus area by assisting the community to access the services they need to help cope with grief and loss.
“At SBS, our focus on sustainability shows our commitment to thinking carefully about every decision we make and the impact it will have now and into the future,” he said.
“We wear our hearts on our sleeves and this means we’re doing the right thing for our Members, our team members and the wider community every single day, and that’s a great feeling.
“We don’t just want to be a good bank that’s ‘doing its bit’ – we want to be a great bank that makes a real difference and this partnership is a great example of how we’ll do that.”