DARE STRUGGLING FOR SUPPORTERS

People horrified at the attack by a child on an 80-year-old woman in
South Dunedin should act on that emotion and get involved in
programmes that help children make good decisions in their life, Dare
Otago chairman Senior Constable Paul Howard says.

South Dunedin woman Elizabeth Ferguson was sworn at and pushed against
a shop wall allegedly by an 8-year old boy on Tuesday.

Not enough ordinary people were supporting proactive organisations
that helped children make good choices in their life, either by
volunteering, serving on committees, or donating money or in kind, Mr
Howard said.

Dare, which stands for Drug Abuse Resistance Education, provides
programmes that aim to help children think about their life choices,
take personal responsibility for their actions, deal with peer
pressure and resist using drugs.

But despite research that showed the programmes were among the most
effective in the world in changing young people's attitude and
behaviour, and a national reputation for efficiency, Dare Otago was
struggling with a lack of supporters and finances.

Following the Dare Otago annual meeting yesterday, Mr Howard bemoaned
the lack of supporters and the strain on everyone still involved to
keep delivering programmes to the same number of children with
dwindling funds.

"It's the same people doing all the jobs all the time." Mr Howard
said.

Dare was intended to be a community organisation run in partnership
with the police, but because not enough members of the public were
involved in Otago, it was being run more and more by already-busy
police officers, he said.

"Overall, we need people to get involved and taking ownership of
what's happening in their community and getting involved in
organisations that actually work."

Since 2000 when major sponsors Telecom and The Lottery Grants Board
changed their criteria, it had been harder to raise the money needed
for Dare programmes.

The cost of providing Dare programmes was about $16 a child, most of
which were run in schools in conjunction with classroom teachers.

North Otago and Oamaru Dare support committee member Margaret Thompson
(72) encouraged more grandparents to get involved in Dare.

Grandparents had valuable skills to pass on to children and it was
important to know the temptations their grandchildren faced today.