4 minute read
NEWS
Social Justice & Homelessness week
In a challenging year, charity and justice have never been more relevant. Even with restrictions limiting the opportunities for student to engage in the broader community, a new program has allowed students to give back to women and girls living in developing countries
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‘Days for Girls’ is a charity which provides dignity, education and opportunity to girls and women by supplying them with menstrual kits. A large number of students have been giving of their time and skills to create components for these kits and this work has continued to expand and grow as the year has progressed. In Term two, the whole school stood in solidarity with Indigenous Australians with the Sea of Hands installation on the College Green. Students were encouraged to write a prayer or message of hope and pin it to a hand which was then arranged into a representation of the Aboriginal flag. This small gesture is a public statement of our support for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and an acknowledgement to the past and ongoing hurts which these people have and continue to experience. At an online assembly last term, the College community was addressed by Yaser Naseri who is a refugee who arrived in Australia during 2014 after fleeing persecution in Iran. Yaser spoke of the reasons why he had to leave Iran, the journey that he took to arrive in Australia including the desperation which led to him attempting to get here by boat, and the positive contribution which he has made since arriving in Australia. He is currently finishing a Bachelor of Commerce at Sydney University and continues to work with refugees
to provide support services and advocacy. The Year Group charities continue to be well supported. Year 12’s initiatives have raised in excess of $20 000 for Feel the Magic, Year 11 organised the whole school to make 2374 meals and 186 baby packs for people living on the margins and Year 8 ran a very successful Winter Appeal for the Vinnies vans in which they donated nearly fifty boxes of food. Year 10 ran a successful Indigenous Awareness week focussed on advocacy and awareness raising for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.The core mantra of justice and charity at the College is to LEAD. This means to Listen to a social problem, Educate themselves and the College community to the impacts of that issue, Act upon what they have learnt, and through this Dignify all the people who are affected.
MATTHEW SELBY IMMERSIONS AND MINISTRY COORDINATOR, MATHEMATICS TEACHER
HOMELESSNESS WEEK AND DIGNITY DISHES
The Brigidine College community has partnered with Dignity and embraced their core values to empower people who are experiencing homelessness
8290 DISHES COOKED FOR DIGNITY THIS YEAR
Brigidine’s partnership with Dignity Dishes was one that started with twenty Duke of Edinburgh students seeing a vision of the difference they could make by cooking meals, for people experiencing homelessness, once a week as part of the community service component of the award. Momentum gained as word spread and our community saw the positive effect a simple action could have on those in need in our society. Dignity is a charity with big ideas and endless optimism, with a philosophy to get things done and constantly dream up ways to do things even better. The Brigidine Year 11 House Leaders brought their dream of making a Brigidine difference during Homelessness Week 2020 to reality. In the first week of August, Year 11 students educated and encouraged other Year groups to make a difference for people experiencing homelessness. Students in Years 8,10 and 11 were asked to cook 6 meals and Years 7,9 and 12 contributed products to make up baby packs. The response was overwhelming, so much so that we needed more freezer space to accommodate the 1000s of meals students cooked. Our wider community contributed two commercial size freezers and the Brigidine dream of making a difference this year during Homelessness week continued well beyond our expectations. A total of 2374 meals were cooked and 186 baby packs made. Everything Dignity does is guided by two core beliefs; Every person should be treated with dignity and together we can end homelessness in Australia. Brigidine students have and continue to embrace these core values through their actions and contributions to Dignity this Homelessness week and beyond with a total of 8290 dishes in total to date this year.
