Charity supporting new parents at risk of closure as demand increases 'hugely'

An Auckland charity supporting pregnant people and new parents says it may be forced to close if it can't raise $20,000 this winter.

Pregnancy Help Auckland provides everything from baby clothing to bassinets, as well as advice for parents.

"In May [we helped] 722 families. In the last six days we've had 31 family requests and that's over 60 children already," co-ordinator Sarah Goodwin told Morning Report.

"We have women's clothing that mums can come and browse through, that includes feeding and maternity clothing. There's baby and toddler clothing, nappies, lights, bassinets, books and toys and everything in between."

The charity's Givealittle page was inching towards its goal, having raised $2840 of its $20,000 in 16 days.

"That's just essential operating costs. Rent, and wages for myself and my colleague Charlotte who are part-time. Everything else is done by our amazing volunteers, they come in every day and sort through donations," Goodwin said.

"Our board is all volunteers as well. Everything is donated to us, so the majority is second-hand donations from families and local businesses, so [the fundraiser] is really just our essential operating costs to keep our doors open."

She said it was getting harder to secure grant money.

"The grant funders don't have as much funds to disperse over the year, there are so many amazing charities and organisations so we're up against so many more charities applying. There's just not enough to go round, unfortunately," she said.

Meanwhile, more people were applying for the service.

"[Demand] is increasing hugely, the cost-of-living crisis is just a huge barrier for people. Everything is more expensive. When you have a baby, or young kids, you forget about all of the things that you need. So many costs pop up, and winter came very quickly this year. Everyone's cold and needs warm clothing."

If the fundraiser failed, Goodwin said there was a real chance the charity would be forced to close.

"We don't have a back-up plan, so if we don't have enough money to pay our bills that is the likely situation."