Everybody needs good neighbours, and joining Neighbourhood Support might be a good first step.

Waitaki Neighbourhood Support coordinator Christine Dorsey said since the organisation started operating across the district in August last year, 231 people had joined up, with about 14 streets on board.

“Neighbourhood Support is about creating resilient, safer and connected communities . . . The top level of neighbourhood support is really to have a street join up, and everybody in that street have some way of communicating with each other, like through a WhatsApp chat or a messenger group, so that’s already working effectively in some streets,” she said. 

“So it can be anything from saying you’ve got 10 million lettuces in your garden and anyone can pop round and grab them, to - in one of the streets, there was someone trying the doors on the cars - so being able to alert them to that.”

Christine was now trying to make more people aware of the benefits of joining. She had created a Facebook page, was talking to community groups, and relying on word of mouth.

She had also been visiting retirement flats around Ōamaru.

“I take the police with me, and we have afternoon tea, and they get to chat with the policeman about what the current crime is like in the town, and they get joined up and the sign goes up.” 

Network Waitaki had come on board with sponsorship to provide folders to hold information from all the involved organisations, and the Oamaru Licensing Trust (through the Lions Foundation) had given $15,000 towards a new sign-written vehicle, both of which Christine was extremely grateful for.

Once people signed up, they received a monthly newsletter, and had the opportunity to be involved as much or as little as they liked, she said.

The organisation was closely linked with police, Fire and Emergency New Zealand (Fenz), and Civil Defence. Participants were also automatically joined up to Otago Gets Ready - a platform created by Civil Defence following the Christchurch earthquakes, when it was discovered not enough was known about who lived in each house when they were looking for people.

“So it’s a really good system where all your information is loaded, and they hold it securely, so if any of the emergency services needed it, then it’s there for them, and it can tell them things right down to emergency contacts with someone.”

Members could also access free home safety fire checks by Fenz.

The Waitaki District Council had contracted Network Waitaki to put up signs, identifying the streets or clusters of houses which were part of Neighbourhood Support.

Predecessor, Neighbourhood Watch was formed by police in the 1970s, and ran until around 2000 when they decided they didn’t have capacity anymore, Christine said.

Neighbourhood Support New Zealand was set up as its own entity, but with police still the driving force, and providing funding. It “fundamentally” remained the same.

“It’s really important that we are connected with our neighbours, it’s a really positive thing . . . We don’t know what’s ahead and we don’t when we might have to rely on our neighbours. 

“What we do know is, if we call the emergency services, your neighbour’s always likely to be there much sooner, so if you can have a relationship with them, it’s very helpful.”

Those interested in joining Neighbourhood Support can contact Christine on 027 2410 589 or go to the national website neighbourhoodsupport.co.nz and click on Join Now.