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Early on in 2023 the Mid Canterbury Rural Support Trust identified the need to continue building our profile in the Rural community—people had heard about the Rural Support Trust, but few people knew what the Trust offered in terms of long and short-term support.

Plans to raise our profile resulted in numerous community events being attended over the past 12 months. These included hosting community events during the Rugby World Cup, shouting the Rural Community free barista made coffee at the Ashburton A&P show, hosting Matt Chisholm at the Mayfield show and in town for a panel discussion around Mental Health and depression workshops.

The Mid Canterbury Rural Support Trust exists to strengthen and support our Rural Community with three values shaping our core— integrity, confidentiality and offering support. The current dry situation up in the Mid-Canterbury High Country has seen a need for increased support as farmers prepare for a winter with significantly smaller feed reserves than they would have liked or planned for. Rural Support Trusts from North, Mid, and South Canterbury have been working with MPI, Federated Farmers, Catchment groups, DairyNZ, and Beef and Lamb connecting farmers to support networks and providing tools that can help them make the difficult, essential decisions that need to be made to survive.

The Rural Support Trust plays an important part in the Rural Community in terms of creating communication channels and connections throughout the industry. Common feedback in recent months highlights the change in people’s perception of Mental Health and how we are now more likely to reach out for support, confirming that the Rural Support Trust is a much needed and trusted resource for our rural community.

Supporting Mental Health for our rural folk is a strong focus for the Trust, whilst remaining committed to our core business which is being always ready to respond during the next adverse event including weather events and natural disasters. The Trust facilitates response efforts in conjunction with other response groups such as but not limited to FENZ, Fed Farmers, Red Cross, Rural Women, and ADC. During the 2021 floods the Trust was instrumental in working alongside these groups to ensure those in need were visited, communication channels were opened, and needs were met as best as possible. The Trustees are all working through attaining their Co-ordinated Incident Management Systems (CIMS) Training to ensure they can all add value and support our rural communities during an adverse event.

Historically the Rural Support Trust has relied on funding from MPI, however these funding streams are reducing significantly. Future funding is likely to come largely from Community partnerships, grants, and support. The Mid Canterbury Rural Support Trust have someone at the end of the phone on our 0800 number 24/7. This takes considerable dedication from our Wellness Coordinator and those that support her. The Trust is always appreciative of businesses reaching out with financial support—the smallest amount can make a big difference. Support with counselling, referrals to rural professionals on a need’s basis and ongoing in person or telephone support is a small example of what the Trust is doing on a day-to-day basis.

The Trust continues to evolve through a cycle of change, with a pending recruitment drive for a new Trustee in the coming months. At our AGM on May 13th, we farewelled long standing Trustee, Allan Baird, who was one of the founding members of the Mid Canterbury Rural Support Trust. He has held many key roles in response efforts over that course of time and in particular a key driver in response to the large snow events in the early 90s. Allan will continue to be an advocate for the trust, his wealth of knowledge and expertise when it comes to emergency response is something that our Trust values immensely.

IF YOU THINK YOU HAVE A SPECIFIC SKILL SET THAT COULD BE AN ASSET TO THE TRUST AND WOULD LIKE TO KNOW MORE ABOUT BECOMING A TRUSTEE, THEN PLEASE EMAIL GEORGIE KING ON GEORGIE.KING@RURALSUPPORT.ORG.NZ.