With
so much public concern, the Christchurch Rotary clubs decided graffiti clean-up
would an excellent service project to undertake. With the success of a
small initial clean-up project last November by the Rotary Club of
Christchurch Sunrise, there was a city-wide project by seven area clubs on
March 22. The Christchurch City Council Graffiti Team quickly stepped up
to the plate and donated supplies and 400 litres of paint. Club members also
solicited outside volunteers from their businesses, and more than 80 volunteers
turned up on a beautiful Saturday morning.
The
Rotary clubs worked with TagStoppers Business Development Manager Bill Johnson
who developed a website and mobile applications to photograph, upload and track
tags by GPS coordinates. Bill divided the city into areas and provided
maps with tag locations to small teams of volunteers to make their efforts very
efficient. In less than two hours, the volunteers remediated over 500
tags in 16 different neighbourhoods.
Afterwards, numerous volunteers expressed
an interest in a follow up event. The enthusiasm was such that
Christchurch newspaper The Press wrote an article about the tagging
being identified by TagStoppers’ smartphone app. Read their online story
at: http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/9859351/Volunteers-erase-hundreds-of-tags.
This in turn prompted the donation of an additional 400 litres of paint by
Addington Action via Habitat for Humanity for future clean-ups.
Rotary
leaders agreed post-event that graffiti clean-up was a great service project
because it’s a highly visible activity, fixing the number one concern of
citizens in Christchurch, and it’s a great outreach tool for new members.
More information: www.9970.rotarysouthpacific.org
More information: www.9970.rotarysouthpacific.org
