Anti-violence campaign begins in Motueka

October 20th, 2014
[by Brittany Norman]

Thursday last week marked the official launch of Motueka's "10 Good Men Campaign", a new initiative by the Motueka Collaboration of Agencies (CoA) that profiles positive role models in the community who are promoting the message "Motueka Families Living Safe is 100% OK".

Member agencies and supporters of the CoA joined up with six of the 10 Good Men featured in the campaign to celebrate this project over morning tea in the sun in front of the Whitwell's Menswear shop on High Street.

Mayor Richard Kempthorne, Reverend Matt Beech, Jesse Hedges, Glen Stringer, Lawrence Graham, and Charles Cornforth were present (see photo below), and among them represented the wide variety of men featured in this project, from various backgrounds and ranging in age from 18 to 70 years old.

Matt Beech summed up the importance of this age spread when he commented that "I am well aware that family violence not only touches the younger sections of our community, but can impact upon the older, often times more vulnerable members of those in what we might call 'senior years'".

Felicity Hurst, the SVS-Living Safe team leader who championed this project on behalf of the CoA, was keen to ensure a diverse group of men was highlighted. "Of course, there are many more than 10 Good Men in Motueka!" she says.

Posters of the men featured in the campaign will appear around the Motueka and wider Tasman communities, and the CoA is hopeful that this is only the beginning of a far-reaching campaign to promote positive messaging around having safe families in Motueka.

One 'next-step' that the CoA hopes to take in the near future is trialing a community Men's Group, to provide a supportive environment for men who want to discuss their personal development around anger management and family violence.

The end goal of the campaign is an increase in awareness of and ultimately seeing a reduction in family violence in Motueka.

The reception by the public has been phenomenal thus far, and the community support is encouraging. As Grant Heney from Motueka Police said, "It's good to see the local aspect a main driver in this, rather than people that you have no idea who they are".

For more information on this initiative or the Men's Group, including how your organisation, business or community event can support the campaign and/or for a request of resources, feel free to contact CoA Administrator Brittany Norman by email on .

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