Counting down the days to event
Tū rangi’s first Safety Day will be fun and family friendly
Safe Tū rangi is counting down the days to the town’s first Safety Day. The charity’s co-ordinator, Tania Smallman, said the event will be a fun and free day out for all the family.
Its success with previous events, such as Christmas in the Park, has helped inspire next weekend’s Tūrangi Safety Day and the emergency services and other organisations were also keen to take part, Smallman said.
They all wanted to show people that, despite what they may have heard, help is always available in the town.
“Talking to the community, you hear, ‘Oh, there’s never an ambulance in town, there are never police in
town’, so we want to take this opportunity to reassure the community that they are here.
“Going with that, everybody else has jumped on board to get involved.”
As part of the day, whānau can visit police, Coastguard, Fire and Emergency NZ and St John Ambulance, all of which will bring vehicles with them.
Fenz will also hold a fire demonstration and there will be giveaways, as well as stalls from other organisations such as ACC, LandSar and Civil Defence.
Tū rangi Safety Day is the latest of many services that Safe Tūrangi offers to provide help and reassurance to the local community.
One popular programme has led to the charity, which works alongside Neighbourhood Support and Community Patrol New Zealand, giving away more than 50 car seats to whā nau and having them professionally fitted in cars.
They also run the SafeTea HQ in Tū rangi’s CBD, a space where organisations and the public can meet “so people can come in for a cup of tea”.
Smallman said the Safety Day was a great opportunity to showcase the personality and spirit of the town.
“It’s just something positive to be happening in Tūrangi, [at a time when] you hear so much negative.”