There is a changing of the guard at Stronger Waitaki.

One of the coalition’s key instigators, Helen Algar, is taking a step back, while Ōamaru newcomer Ali McIntyre faces the challenge of being the first Waitaki District Council Community and Stronger Waitaki lead.

Helen will continue to lead work in the mental health and addictions area, as Stronger Waitaki goes through a shift to work more closely with the council’s new Community and Economic Development team, headed by Mel Jones.

Stronger Waitaki is a community-led coalition of about 170 people from agencies and organisations in the Waitaki.

“Essentially what it's based on is the collective impact model, which says that there should be this backbone organisation that facilitates social change initiatives,” Ali says. “And so the way that works is we essentially facilitate different networks.

There are a collection of groups in the community, and each organisation has its own people who work to benefit the community. 

The role of Stronger Waitaki is to “work in the background . . . and really facilitate that amazing work to go on”, Ali says.

While Helen is “incredibly humble”, Ali says it is important to highlight that Stronger Waitaki, which began as Safer Waitaki in 2013, is “her baby”.

“We would be absolutely lost without her, and it's just the world's biggest shoes for me to fill.”

She also pays tribute to Jason Evered and his work leading Stronger Waitaki over the last year. 

“Helen actually stood down from the Community Development manager role in October 2023, and Jason led the team as it underwent transformation.”

He was instrumental in getting significant professional development workshops into the community and in the renewal of community camera technology being rolled out early next year, she says.

Jason is now part of the council Community Engagement team, and Ali expects to continue working closely with him.

Council chief executive Alex Parmley says one of the council’s ambitions in “changing the way we Waitaki” or transforming the organisation, is to strengthen the way the council teams up with other organisations and its communities.

“Our Community and Economic Development Team are at the forefront of this work, and ensuring we do this consistently across all of council. The team will continue to facilitate and support Stronger Waitaki,” he says.

“Stronger Waitaki is not council, but is a network that brings together community organisations, agencies and businesses to work collaboratively to achieve better community outcomes.”

Alex says the council is sad to be losing Helen and is “really grateful for the brilliant work she has delivered for our council and our community”. 

“Helen has been the driver of the development of Stronger Waitaki and has been instrumental in leading the thinking on how we reshape council. 

“We will miss her in the council but know Helen well enough to say we will still see her active in our community. Thank you Helen for all your great mahi,” he says.

Before stepping into her new role, Ali was working for Fire and Emergency New Zealand in community readiness and recovery.

“So what that meant is spreading understanding about fire safety and awareness in homes, and that kind of led to some wonderful partnerships in the community.”

She sat on the Neighborhood Support Board and was part of the Stronger Waitaki cohort as well.

“Which essentially is how I got here.”

Prior to that, her background was in education - particularly building equity in education.

Ali grew up in Tauranga, and moved to Dunedin for her FENZ role in 2020. She moved to Ōamaru the weekend before her new job started in November.

“My role at Fire and Emergency was covering coastal Otago, essentially, and I think I just really fell in love with the people here, and Stronger Waitaki is such a huge part of that.

“I think the networks that are built and those partnerships are really, really meaningful. And you don't see that anywhere else. So it was a bit of a no-brainer really.

“So I sit in the Stronger Waitaki community development space with my coordinator, Enya Fisher, who everybody knows and absolutely adores, and we very excitingly actually also now sit in the (council) community and economic development team headed by Mel Jones, and I think that's really exciting.”

In her first month in the job, some “awesome examples” have been discussed about how the two teams can work together and help create opportunities for each other.

Helen says Stronger Waitaki sprang from the Safer Communities model, and was morphed into something that suited the district better.

She is adamant it wasn’t a solo effort.

“Shirley Bee was very, very instrumental in supporting us, so it was kind of the two of us, really. I'm not going to take all the credit for that.” 

Helen has also worked with other councils around the country who have been interested in the Stronger Waitaki model and figuring out what the “secret sauce” is down here, Ali says.

Leading into the festive season, mental health can come to the fore for those who may not be feeling like celebrating over the summer holiday period.

In her spare time, Ali likes to walk her “two crazy dogs” - a beardie and huntaway - at Ōamaru’s lookout. 

She also enjoys reading and describes herself as a “very, very enthusiastic cook”.

“But I’m not sure how fantastic I am, actually.”

She loves the community connection in her new role, and getting to know people in a different space from her previous job. 

She also wants to reiterate “the mana and incredible work that has gone before”, and “the enormity of the shoes that have been left”.

“Paving the way for a really bright future for Stronger Waitaki.”