Bike ride aims to put spotlight on violence
Up to 100 bikers will ride around Mt Taranaki collecting playing cards this weekend to highlight the problem of violence against women.
Saturday’s Waitara White Ribbon Poker Run will see participants picking up cards at five stops to make a poker hand.
Organisers are hoping the motorcycles, and a $500 prize for the best hand, will attract a crowd so they can spread their message.
‘‘We want to make it an annual event for the Waitara community just to show our support and to raise awareness that it’s not OK for men to use violence against women,’’ campaign champion Joe Rauner said.
‘‘It’s a cultural thing and it’s a whole community thing. We hope if we get all of these motorbikes down town, and get people to come and have a look, we can let them know there’s support out there for people who are struggling.
‘‘There are people out there who don’t know where to turn. They want to do something about it, but they are like, hey, where do we go? What do we do? Is there anybody out there to help us?’’
Rauner said the organisation wanted to break the cycle in small steps.
‘‘We are gaining a lot of support from different clubs and that around the mountain at the moment.
‘‘From here the only way we can go is bigger and better.’’
Vicky Dombroski, of the Are You OK Waitara campaign, said there are lots of places women can turn to for help, but the options for men were more limited, which usually resulted in them not getting support until things had hit rock bottom.
She said the campaign aimed to move the ambulance back to the top of the cliff.
‘‘We want to get the awareness going so that they can get the help before they are court mandated to do so.’’
A pilot ride was held last year, but organisers have been working on staging the event for the past six months. The ride will leave from the town’s District Citizens and Services Club at 11am on Saturday and it’s hoped up to 100 riders will be involved. The event is open to all makes and models of motorcycle and the riders are expecting to return to the RSA about 4pm.