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. 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.”

Edmund Rice Outreach Back Row: Lachlan Harders, Nathan Sparks, Jake Reid, Brayden Murphy, Connor Cleary, Connor Engelbrecht, Alexander Ishida-Livings, Jack Catanach Third Row: Yiming Dong, Michael Wright, Jackson Flematti, Daniel Gileno, Ross Carbone, Zachary Ting, Stephen Pover, Jesse Vivante, Samuel Hadfield Second Row: Nicholas Valentini, Beau Salvia, Liam Fernandes, Jarrod Ng, Stratos Sarris, Mrs Marya Stewart, Reece Drudi, Lochie Taylor, Thomas Salleo, Nicholas Moulton, Jed Herne Front Row: Andrew Le, Jordan Hands, Kenneth Njoo, Mark Leung, Jack Newman, Callum Dewsbury, James Valentine, Joshua De Souza, Roem Kong, Ethan Petta, Sheldon Dias

Street Soccer and Red Cross Soup Patrol were popular weekly volunteer activities as were annual events like the Fast for Caritas and Winter Sleepout with 80 students from Years 9–12 involved. Much-needed funds were raised by both events and the group also held a sausage sizzle in Term 4 to raise funds to buy two urns for Red Cross soup patrol. Joshua de Souza (12.3) reflected on the experience by saying, “Eddie Rice Outreach has allowed me to serve others directly such as during soup patrols where I could serve soup to those who need it most. However, it has served in other ways by raising awareness of issues such as poverty through the Fast for Caritas, homelessness through the Winter Sleepout and the death penalty through the campaign. Activities such as the Winter Sleepout and Climb for a Smile allowed me to fundraise to help organisations that help the less privileged whilst also allowing me to gain an appreciation for what these people have to go through and enabling me to use my time and effort for the benefit of others.”

Mrs Marya Stewart Director of Christian Service