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North Canterbury Neighbourhood Support
Message from North Canterbury
North Canterbury has doubled its members joining up to the Gets Ready system for emergency and critical information, and the feedback is that people love what they are hearing.
The Gets Ready system is designed to be there to help you prepare or be in the know when/if there is a problem, be it weather, Civil Defence information, Council information and Police.
We send most information out on email, but in the case of urgent requirements, we will text you. Knowing your neighbours is so important. It can and does strengthen our communities, makes them safer and all in all a more pleasant time for everyone. You can join up on Gets Ready as a group or an individual and ALL information is private. The only people who can see your details are ourselves and the Police and Civil Defence. If they need to contact you in an emergency they can. This means all information sent out is direct and not filtered down or a guess from a facebook page. Often with Facebook it will show you what it thinks you want to see instead of critical information. The information from the Gets Ready System is only sent when it will protect you, warn you, prepare you, and help you. Belonging to a Neighbourhood Support Group is a great way to get to know your neighbours and enhance a feeling of safety in your immediate neighbourhood. It is easy to start a group and has many benefits and we would love for you to join. A group can be any number of people and you are welcome to join as an individual to
receive the information from Gets Ready if you didn’t want to be part of an arranged group.
The Benefits of a Neighbourhood Group are:
• You get to know your neighbours and meet new people • Creates safer neighbourhoods • Creates a vigilance with an aim to reduce crime • Sharing resources in the event of an emergency • Working with agencies such as the police for crime prevention and
Civil Defence to help our neighbourhoods prepare for any given emergency situation • And that the street group can be supportive in the event of a personal emergency. The group can support each other by means of knowing holidays and time away to ensure properties are checked on and any suspicious activities reported promptly
It is important to know who is in your group and the needs of perhaps the elderly and the vulnerable. You can, as a group, meet as little or as often as you feel is necessary. You could even set up your own private Facebook group to keep in touch. Some groups love to arrange a yearly BBQ, some love getting together for morning teas, the choice is entirely yours. Respect each other’s confidences and privacy. Be aware that some members of the group may not wish to participate in the same way as others. Go to www.northcanterburygetsready.net to sign up to start receiving information. Setting up a street group could not be easier! Call us today and we can come and meet with you to arrange.
