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By Angela Brown

Neighbours helping neighbours

City looking at starting new good neighbours program

Apr 19, 2021 | 4:01 PM

North Battleford council members are looking at starting a new good neighbours program to get the community more involved in helping others.

Administration discussed reactivating the city’s Neighbourhood Champions program that would run spring, summer and fall, offering incentives for people who help their neighbours. The program would run until the Snow Angels program starts again in the winter, when people clear their neighbours’ walkways and are then nominated for a draw.

The city originally introduced the Neighbourhood Champions program in 2018 as part of the Eyes that Care campaign.

Residents were able to nominate someone from the community, and each month a winner was drawn at a council meeting. The aim was to help reduce property crime by encouraging people to help others, for example, by checking to see if neighbours’ garage doors were closed while they were on vacation.

However, following a lack of community response, as well as staff turnover, the program did not continue.

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Administration indicated that if the program starts again, the city could give leisure passes to candidates drawn from those nominated.

Mayor David Gillan summed up the idea for the program.

“Administration is suggesting to bring back the Neighbourhood Champions program, widening the scope of the program to not just safety but also general good deeds for only spring, summer and fall each year, and maybe bi-monthly, as opposed to monthly,” he said.

Coun. Kelli Hawtin suggested looking into a good neighbour-type program with more continuity. She was interested in seeing whether it was possible to find a way to connect the city’s program with the local Better Together T-shirt Project.

“I just wondered whether somehow we could partner with that group to be better together neighbours even, and if that’s a way for us to help hone that program into our community,” she said.

Mayor Gillan said the city can look at having a collective discussion with Better Together T-shirt Project co-founder Pastor Deb McNabb, and come back to council at a later date with some suggestions to consider.

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angela.brown@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @battlefordsNOW