Respect founder reflects as Wagga's decades-long campaign winds up

Respect Awareness has wound up operations for the last time after more than a quarter of a century campaigning for the value of respect in the city.

Founder Ronda Lampe said it was with "a touch of sadness" that she announced the decision, but that it was final.

Mrs Lampe held a leadership position from the founding of Respect until its close, including serving many years as president before stepping down from that role in 2022.

She said the group has been forced to make the decision as they have been unable to find enough members to stand on the board.

"You can't run a club without a board," Mrs Lampe said.

But she stressed it was not due to a lack of volunteers, rather putting it down to societal changes and the level of commitment required to be involved on a board level.

Harking back to how the group formed, Mrs Lampe said it came out of a concern over the lack of respect among Wagga's youth at the turn of the century.

"[At the time] kids were going in and stealing [from people]... and trashing places," she said.

"I was horrified at that stage, 26 years ago, that kids would do things like that.

"And I called a meeting - not thinking about starting a group - but we had representatives from the police, the council, a couple of school principals, the army, the RAAF, the general public and people from other areas at the forefront of [dealing with] young people," Mrs Lampe said.

She recalled, "someone said we need to form a group, everyone agreed and they told me I was president."

Mrs Lampe said Respect began with a school competition and grew from there, with Respect Week kicking off several years after that.

Reflecting on the many ways Respect has worked at over the years, she said this included signs for schools with the slogan "Plant respect and watch it grow."

The school has also featured campaigns promoting respect on buses, taxis, milk cartons, coffee cups, balloons and stickers at sporting events across town.

Mrs Lampe thanked all those in the community who have sponsored and supported the group over the decades.

"Without the support of sponsors over the years... we wouldn't be able to run," she said.

But while Respect as a group will cease to be, Mrs Lampe remains optimistic the cause will not be forgotten, with other groups and levels of government now campaigning for greater respect through efforts to tackle domestic violence and other societal issues.

"Our generic slogan is 'stop, think, respect, because everyone counts,'" she said.

Mrs Lampe said it's important that people never forget the meaning behind the seven-letter word.

"Hopefully people in their homes, [family, workplace, sporting fields, keep treating] others as they would like to be treated themselves," she said.

"That's the bottom line of what respect means."