Whether it’s a lap around the skate park, footy showdown fever or caring for our furry friends – RAA members have a wide range of interests, passions and responsibilities.
“With membership of 660,000, RAA is presented with many opportunities to support our members, and their communities, around the state through partnerships, sponsorships and grants,” says RAA General Manager Sales & Marketing, Tom Griffiths.
“For the 2015 season RAA has signed some exciting new sporting partnerships with both Port Adelaide Football Club and the Adelaide Football Club.
“These agreements come with some exclusive offers and events so if you’re an RAA member you could be a winner on game day, whichever team colours you are sporting.
“Our community support focusses on promoting mobility for all South Australians at all stages of life. Safety, security and crime prevention are also important factors in keeping communities safe – so RAA’s sponsorships and grant program link back to these key support areas,” said Mr Griffiths.
The Royal Society for the Blind is supported by RAA in the provision of GPS tracking devices for trialling by vision impaired users. These devices can really make a big difference to how vision impaired people negotiate their way around both city streets or country roads – and trialling them is the best way to decide whether the benefit is worth the outlay.
The Elizabeth Riders Committee is a group of young skaters, scooters and BMX’ers who ooze street cred. When they’re not grinding or back flipping in the skate park, you’ll find them providing a peer to peer mentoring program that includes road safety information (for example helmet and bike light usage) and equipment sustainability. RAA’s support helps them deliver this program to more young people around the state – and for some reason they get a lot more cut through than our average road safety presenter!
A recent RAA initiative has a safety focus for both our two legged and four legged friends. Provision of a new monitored security system at the RSPCA’s Lonsdale shelter will help staff deal with the escalating problem of break-ins by people ‘stealing back’ their animals. These criminals not only put the animals they’ve mistreated, but also RSPCA staff, at risk.
New Year’s Eve at Holdfast Bay is a huge celebration for thousands of revellers but it can also mean traffic jams, parking problems and road rage. By providing a shuttle bus service between Harbortown and Glenelg each New Year, RAA helps reduce the number of cars on the road by approximately 500 – that means less stressed drivers and more time to enjoy the fireworks fun.
And let’s not forget our Regional members. Over the last three years RAA has increased rural community involvement with the Regional Safety Grants Program. RAA Insurance provides $50,000 annually for worthwhile projects that improve the safety of rural communities. Past projects include softfall and fencing for playgrounds, resuscitation equipment, fire safety education, rescue boat engines, and security equipment.
“These partnerships help the community and also mean we can provide our members, and other South Australians, with opportunities and benefits they might otherwise not have access to. And that means everyone can be a winner,” says Mr Griffiths.
