Gaye Thompson, who has been employed 20 hours a week by the Alpine Community Development Trust, leaves her job tomorrow, because her salary is no longer covered by the Ministry of Social Development's community response fund.
A ministry spokesman said the fund was set up in 2009 to deal with the impact of the global economic crisis.
''The [fund] was not intended to be a sustainable funding pathway but rather a short-term, time-limited response to address immediate cost and demand pressures,'' the spokesman said.
The Alpine Trust received a total of $90,000 from the fund.
The manager of the trust's community networks organisation, Kate Murray, said Ms Thompson provided ''varying levels'' of support to clients.
While there were family and medical social workers available in Wanaka, Ms Thompson was often the first point of contact for people looking for assistance.
Not having her available could mean a longer wait for some people.
Trust chairwoman Devon Hotop said as well as helping those affected by the economic downturn, Ms Thompson had assisted earthquake victims who had moved from Christchurch.
''There were a whole lot of people who came down from Christchurch to get away [from the earthquake].''
She said the organisation, run mostly by volunteers, ''always struggled'' to fund salaries.
Without the ''wonderful'' government funding, the trust would look at individual projects in future, which could be funded through grants from community organisations and public appeals.
The trust's network runs school holiday programmes, arranges Meals on Wheels and hospital transport.
Last year, it distributed 294 food parcels, including Christmas hampers, through its food bank.
''We will work out what projects we require and how we might get funding for short-term things and we will most certainly be looking at the possibility of getting some community social worker hours,'' Ms Hotop said.
The trust had been running the community network for 10 years but ''unless you need to use it, people don't know about it''.
