New watch group for the Maples

The Maples will see a boost in security once a new neighbourhood watch group finds enough volunteers to stay active.

The watch group is called 204 Neighbourhood Watch and went on its first patrol on June 26 with the mentoring of Bear Clan Patrol members.

Maples resident and founder Leila Castro is part of a Facebook group that connects members of the Filipino community in Manitoba. She said she saw many people post about thefts and violent incidents and one post from a friend caught her attention because it happened in the area she lives in.

"His daughter was about to enter their apartment building, and she was threatened by two males holding a machete," she said. "And that was very frightening because I have my daughters. That made me think it’s about time to do something."

"So I said, this year, it cannot be that we are not going to do something about it and there’s a community we can leverage on, a huge community. So I made a call to ask volunteers to do something to respond to these security issues we see posted in our community’s social media."

Castro started off by looking for volunteers in the Filipino community, but said her goal is to make it multicultural and bring the community together.

She mentioned one of the lessons learned with the Bear Clan Patrol is that a watch group is not only about responding to safety issues, but also about getting to know each other and strengthening community relationships.

"That is something that has to be started," she said. "We should all be protecting our neighbourhood."

Castro said immigrants may lose a sense of community when they leave their homes to come to Canada, and most of the times, they don’t have connections in their new neighbourhoods. 

"So the idea is to start that connection. To start conversing with your neighbours, to start knowing them and to have that idea of a community once again where you know your neighbours and you care for them, and the neighbours also have the same intention."

It was necessary for the new group watch to learn from those who have experience. Castro said she wanted to start the group but didn’t know how, so she reached out to James Favel, founder of the Bear Clan Patrol, who shared his experiences and struggles in putting his patrol group together.

"He shared with us very inspiring stories, and from there, we solidified that yes, we want to proceed with this and prepare to do the patrolling," Castro said.

The group plans on patrolling every week. However, that depends on the number of people who volunteer to go with them. Castro mentioned they need at least eight to be able to patrol — a group for the left side and another for the right side of the road.

So far, they’ve had some people connect with them through their Facebook group 204 Neighbourhood Watch, and show interest to volunteer with them, but they need more help.

For those interested in joining with 204 Neighbourhood Watch, can join their Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/212999705872749/ where they post information on upcoming patrols.