THE Bendigo Salvation Army has made two workers redundant from its Fairground program due to budget concerns.
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The program is run at the Salvation Army building on Mundy Street and assists parents who have had an acrimonious divorce.
It allows parents to drop off and pick up their children at the centre, to avoid having to meet face-to-face when conducting changeovers.
Alice* has been using the service since April 2013 and formed a strong relationship with the two workers, both women.
She said she was devastated they would no longer be able to help her.
"I found these two women were the only people always returned my calls," she said.
"They look after me.
"On some occasions when I was not dealing with things .. they would say, 'it's okay, I'll sort it out'.
"They've helped me keep my sanity on more than a few occasions."
Alice said her former partner was abusive to her, and she had emotional scars from her relationship with him.
She said she sometimes felt nervous about leaving her children at the centre but the women would reassure her.
"They make it seem okay," she said.
“Nine times out of 10 if I need to speak to someone I will always speak to one of these women. They make me feel comfortable.”
Salvation Army Bendigo captain Andrew van Gaalen said the organisation gave the workers adequate notice of their redundancy, as required by law.
He said it was a regrettable situation but the women had to be let go due to the organisation's decreased budget.
“We’re disappointed we had to move these workers but we have budgetary concerns and we had to do it," he said.
"As far as fundraising goes we were down across the board with the Red Shield Appeal.
“We are saddened to make anyone redundant … but just like any business we have budgetary constraints and we sometimes have to make tough decisions.
"We do make sure we follow the letter of the law when doing this because we never want to treat anyone unfairly.”
*Not her real name.