Book Benefit

The Junior School Student Representative Council (SRC) turned its concern for the flooded Lismore Library into a deluge of book donations, with a passionate, student-only promotional campaign.

It was a stark photo of a mountain of sodden books piled in front of the Lismore Library, that spurred the Junior School SRC into action. Many of the titles lost were from the children’s and young adult fiction sections. “It had been a huge, thriving, buzzing place of learning and reading and here it was with all its contents out on the street,” says Year 6 teacher and SRC facilitator, Mr Dean Pomfrett. SRC Captain Lucinda Vincent says it was a cause they could all feel deeply connected to. “Libraries are such good places. I think we could all understand how devastating it would be for the children who lived there,” she says.

The Captains addressed the Junior School Assembly, the SRC representatives from each class made presentations to their peers, and many more students collaborated on ‘enticing’ posters to display around the School grounds. Donations started pouring in, in response to their fast-acting grassroots campaign. All were new or near new and included beautiful editions of sought-after titles. “It was a stunning bit of student advocacy really,” Mr Pomfrett says. “Why I am most proud of the students is that not one email, note, flyer, or social media message went home to promote the cause - it was purely the result of the students’ own efforts,” he says.

Term 1 Class Captain Fleur Lingard, was the student who had first initiated the campaign. Impressively, she persisted with it, even after her leadership term had ended. “The main problem we had once the donations had arrived was how to get them up to Lismore,” she says. “Australia Post said they had free postage for a box of books, but we didn’t have one box; we had tens and tens of boxes. I talked to my mother (Edwina Gilbert, Executive Chair of the Phil Gilbert Group), and she said she would lend us a van and donate petrol so Mr Pomfrett could make the trip,” Fleur says.

“Another Junior School family, the Kennards, donated the cardboard boxes we needed, and numerous staff helped to organise and load them,” Mr Pomfrett says. “When I needed to stay overnight in Coffs Harbour because the weather was so dire, the Windmill Motel gave me a discount due to the importance of the cause and the children’s efforts - it was a broad community effort.”

“I arrived in late August, so six months after the initial floods,’” Mr Pomfrett says. “There was a damp and rotting smell, and I was shocked to see furniture and shop fittings still out on the street. The librarians of the town had converted a warehouse on higher ground into a temporary donation reception point. They were so grateful to see the quality of our books and promised any they could not use themselves, would go to the surrounding schools.”

Fellow 2022 SRC Captain Lily Dalziel says the campaign served as a reminder to them all: “I think the whole process taught us there is always somewhere in the world that will need help and sometimes we can forget or not imagine, how much we have to contribute.” “It will be good when the students visit Lismore in the years to come, see its library restored, and know they played a small part,” Mr Pomfrett says.