South Canterbury Neighbourhood Support

Why join our network?

A well-connected community helps improve the safety, resilience, and well-being of all.

If you live in the Timaru, Waimate or Mackenzie Districts, you can join our network to receive an information pack, email newsletters and alerts.

You can join, or start, a street group which could help you:

• Get to know the people that live around you • Receive emails and alerts from our partners, including Police and FENZ • Gain tips and resources to improve neighbourhood safety • Be better prepared for emergencies.

By working together, we make our neighbourhoods safer and more welcoming.

How to get involved

It’s easy! You can join individually, join a group, or start one, you decide what works best for you.

You could:

• Meet regularly, or as needed • Stay connected online, by phone, face to face or by email • Undertake some neighbourhood projects.

Our projects TAGLINE – We work with Community Patrol to identify, remove and record graffiti.

SHOPSAFE – We work with Police to connect retailers who support one another to deter retail crime.

AORAKI CONNECT – Our volunteers connect with Multicultural Aoraki to welcome and support newcomers.

RURAL CRIME PREVENTION – We work with Police and rural communities to look out for one another helping prevent rural crime.

There are many challenges our communities face these days. It seems life is much more complicated than a few decades ago. An increasing number of people struggle to cope with life as it is. The question is, what can we do to minimize that?

People are social beings. We need to feel part of the clan around us. The way we experience acceptance or rejection plays an important role. What are the norms of the community in which we live? When these norms conflict with our standards, we may experience higher stress levels.

Studies show that when people notice a decline in their community, many stop caring, and then things go downwards very quickly.

Have you noticed, when someone maintains the lawn on the grass berm, how others around them also do that? When people throw rubbish around, leave damaged cars parked, tyre burnout marks and graffiti appear, that is when people notice the lack of care. Unfortunately, that attracts dodgy characters, and vandalism and bad behaviour increase before long.

One of the first signs of a declining society is lousy driver behaviour. It does not take long for people to figure out a lack of enforcement. The issue is not necessarily a lack of concern of the police, but all the incidents police attend. Good people should not think that it is ok to break the law when there are no police around.

As Edmund Burke had said more than 100 years ago: “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil was that good men should do nothing.” Here is where you and I come in. Are we willing to stand up for what is right, or would we argue that nobody cares and let our neighbourhood sink into the abyss?

We could start by doing what is right and take action to care for our neighbourhood by looking at our behaviour and actions. Diligently report bad behaviour to the police or your local council. Yes, some people may argue that dobbing in somebody is a bad thing. The sad thing is that by not doing it, we contribute to the decline of our neighbourhood.

How will you answer your kids or grandkids one day when they ask you how things got so bad? It is up to us to leave them a good neighbourhood.

Daniel Naudé Road Safety Coordinator (South Canterbury)

Daniel Naudé | Road Safety Coordinator 027 438 6285 | daniel.naude@timdc.govt.nz | www.scrs.org.nz

We joined forces with FENZ, Police, St. John’s and other organisations to create an emergency information poster for younger children and older people, and it will be translated into different languages for newcomers and migrants too. We take it for granted everyone knows how things work in an emergency but if you’re in a stressful situation a reminder could save lives.

Community events

We recently partnered with AMI, FENZ, Civil Defence, St. John, Red Cross and the Coastguard to run a ‘Safer Communities Event’ in Twizel.

Those that visited received free information, coffee and BBQ. It was a lot of fun, with activities for all the family.

This year has been exciting - we have new wheels!

In 2019 our community vehicle was damaged in the Timaru hail storm and was assessed and written off in 2020. We spent a year seeking funding and with the help of Pub Charity, Neighbourhood Support and The Aotearoa Gaming Trust, we acquired a new Tivoli, with support of Bob Driver SsangYong, Timaru.

It’s fantastic! We are now able to continue to support our members, volunteers and partners, and attend events, meetings.

As a charity we are grateful to all our members, volunteers, partners and funders who help us help you look out for one another and create safe, resilient and connected communities.

To find out more see

www.neighbourhoodsupport.co.nz or contact us on (03) 6879802, or scns@xtra.co.nz. Join free online at www. southcanterbury.getsready.net to get started!

You can even support us from your armchair! Follow our Facebook page – South Canterbury Neighbourhood Support Gets Ready.