The movement arrived in New Zealand in 2004.

“He migrated here when the need arose,” Mercer said.

Although she did not have the figures, the statistics on domestic violence in the Tararua district are “not great”.

She added that this could be due to more deprived socio-economic areas and “because we are very rural and our services and support agencies that we can call on are more limited”.

Although small communities have created excellent services and supports where needed, Mercer said many additional things, especially for men, were not available because there was no resources for this.

She said the district could lose more services due to funding cuts.

“It’s a major concern for our community to ask ‘where are these supports coming from and what is this going to look like in the next seven to 12 months for our community?’

Mercer said recent changes to the law are a positive step, especially regarding the ability to file for divorce while seeking a protection order when you leave an abusive relationship.

She said it was “extremely empowering” for victims of domestic violence, who otherwise had to wait two years after struggling to gain the emotional strength to end a relationship.

The Tararua group is working to get more men to become White Ribbon Ambassadors.

Mercer said ambassadors understand White Ribbon and will be able to advise other community members on support services and what they can do regarding their family situation.

“The more ambassadors we have in our community, the more people will see that a lot of people are aware of this and a lot of people are against it and feel more normal when they talk about it. »

In addition to the barbecues, on Wednesday local schools will participate in a rock hunt.

Mercer said she hopes to have as good a turnout this year as last year.

She said the school activity might get kids talking about it, then going home and starting asking questions.

“If parents don’t know that, they might actually be like ‘okay, what are these kids talking about’ and open up that communication at home about the white tape and what that means.”