Z grant helps boost local safety

Central Safe Community Trust were one of the four organisations in Stratford that received a financial boost in this year's Z Petrol Good In The Hood promotion.

Krystal Burrell, chairperson of the Central Safe Community Trust, says the group's purpose is to make Stratford a safe place to live, work and play.

"We co-ordinate the neighbourhood support groups and community patrols in Central Taranaki in order to prevent and reduce crime in our community, as well as ensuring we are well prepared as a community in the event of an emergency."

Krystal says the group made the application to be a part of the nationwide promotion because, "extra funding means that we are able to provide better and more services to the community".

Krystal adds the money received from the promotion will be used to increase the neighbourhood support groups, particularly in rural areas and recruiting more volunteers for community patrols.

Krystal says the promotion also gives the group the opportunity to let the community know what they do and why.

"We loved the opportunity to talk to everyone that came through Z Stratford and let them know what the Safe Community Trust is all about and what we could do for them.

"We also got very valuable information from everyone that talked to us which helps us in planning further safety initiatives to ensure that Stratford remains a safe."

Krystal says, "people want to know that they live in a safe place and evidence shows that crime cannot exist in a community that cares".

Successful Central Safe Community Trust initiatives include the upgrading of the CCTV cameras in the Stratford CBD with the support of the Taranaki Electricity Trust.

The Stratford Press will be running profiles on each of the four local organisations that were a part of Z Stratford's Good In The Hood promotion. See next week's Stratford Press for the next profile.