2015 Edmund Rice Outreach Report Mrs Marya Stewart Director of Christian Service Edmund Rice Outreach continues to be a source of inspiration and encouragement to me in the work of Christian Service because the senior students who become involved are always so enthusiastic and show great initiative in planning and organizing activities. The 2015 leadership team of Callum Dewsbury (12.5), Joshua de Souza (12.3), James Valentine (12.4) and Jack Newman (12.7) were strongly supported by a dedicated group of Year 12 students who made up the core of the group.
Advocacy One of the highlights of the year was the launch of the Campaign to End the Death Penalty on Edmund Rice Feast Day, after the tragic deaths of two young Australians, Andrew Chan and Myuraman Sukumaran who had been on death row in Indonesia for ten years. Over 500 signatures were collected within the College community and, more importantly, many significant discussions resulted, regarding the Catholic teaching on the death penalty and the sacredness of human life. This campaign was lead most diligently by Jed Herne (12.3). Another significant event was held on Thursday 27 August, when Edmund Rice Outreach invited students during their lunch hour to participate in an awareness raising activity for Migrant and Refugee Week. Students were asked to line up outside the makeshift detention centre, given an armband and a scenario to present. When they were allowed into the centre they had to convince the immigration officers of their right to be considered a genuine refugee. Many students had to go to the back of the line and return two or three times before being rewarded with a can of coke, a symbol of their admission as a refugee to ‘Australand’. At the end of the school day more armbands were handed out. The message on these armbands was ‘Refugees are welcome here’.
Prayer Service for Syrian Refugees In response to the humanitarian crisis unfolding in Europe as a result of the war in Syria, Edmund Rice Action requested that all Edmund Rice schools participate in a time of prayer. On Thursday at lunchtime students were invited to take part in a candlelit prayer service ‘Light the Dark’ in our chapel. Year 10 RE classes also participated in this service during RE lessons on that day.
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Volunteer Activities One of the volunteer activities included a group of students braving the wet weather to be marshalls for the Walk a Mile in Her Shoes event, guiding a group of men taking part in this international march to end violence against women, around the course set out in the streets around Trinity College. Year 12 students: Jed Herne (12.3), Joshua de Souza (12.3), Nick Valentini (12.6), Callum Dewsbury (12.5), Michael Wright (12.3), Jake Reid (12.5), James Heald (12.2), Mark Leung (12.4) and Year 11 students Bailey Gregson (11.4), Jack Damir (11.3), Leo Milazzo (11.6), Joshua Naylor (11.3) volunteered to assist with this event. Jake Reid (12.5) wrote in his journal “I discovered that there was a large group of men who were prepared to walk in high heels in the cold and rain to raise community awareness of women’s rights to be free from violence.” Six Year 10 students: Liam Spadoni (10.6), Dominic Driscoll (10.6), Oliver Spitteler (10.6), Thomas Coleman (10.5), Alexander Coleman (10.7) and Jake O’Brien (10.7) gave up their evening to help out at the Edmund Rice Camps Quiz night. Organisers of the event were full of praise for the boys and said, “we were all so impressed by how polite, helpful, attentive, enthusiastic, overall, just how awesome they are”. Two Year 11 students, Max Nicolay (11.7) and Fintan O’Hurley (11.6) gave up their Saturday afternoon to assist at a Fathers’ Day event for families of elderly residents of Brightwater The Village in Inglewood. Families came together to enjoy afternoon tea while they watched the AFL game together. Max and Fintan ran a football clinic for the younger children who had come along with their families. Mrs Aureen Donaldson (Life style Coordinator at The Village) sent a message saying “thank you to Max and Fintan who did a great job at our Fathers’ Day event. The children who attended the clinic looked like they were having a loads of fun.” Jack Catanach (12.4) and Mathew Reaper (12.4) took part in the City to Surf to raise funds for Eddie Rice Camps. Jack wrote “this experience enabled me to put my faith into practice as I had the opportunity to put effort and time into action for the benefit of other people without any self-interest, re-enacting the teachings of Jesus.”
