Faith, Justice and Formation
Our Lenten Partners
Our Lenten Appeal has had quite a slow start this year, so we are hoping it will have a strong finish. As mentioned previously all donated funds go directly to our partners.
While some funds are always kept for our Immersion Partners, St Joseph’s Flexible Learning Centre in Alice Springs and the Edmund Rice Life Training Centre in Rabaul, Papua New Guinea, the bulk of the money this year will be donated to two long-term partners – Chalmers Road School in Strathfield and Lucas Gardens School in Five Dock.
Both schools are for young people, from Kindergarten to Year 12, with intellectual and physical disabilities, and both are beacons of what can happen with the care and support of so many, as well as extra funding to enable programs to run. As we raise funds, I urge all of us to keep in mind the students of these two schools, as well as all others with disabilities, and recognise their actual abilities. Our boys learn this first-hand when they have spent time in partnership at both schools.
After discussing possibilities with both schools, they have indicated that the funds we raise will be put towards the following:
Lucas Gardens School will put the money towards a Mini Fit Sports Program, enabling their students to become more active and engage in sports just like other students.
Chalmers Road School will be putting the money towards learning programs and resources such as iPad programs, learning equipment and so on.
We take all of these things for granted, but in these environments, more is needed to enable the young people to communicate more fully, engage more actively and feel belonging which is all any of us ever want.
Please help us change lives as part of our Lenten practice. You can donate in many ways – see last week’s Especean – or just have your son put some cash in his homeroom collection case (just like Project Compassion).
Gillian Daley
Director of Identity
Fairtrade Sports Equipment – Special Football Giveaway
RREPP is a company that produces Fairtrade sports equipment and clothing. The College purchases lots of our sports balls from the company and we have been gifted with many lucky door prizes and raffle prizes from them in the past. Fairtrade means that every part of the process of making and selling a product is just and ethical – fair pay, equitable practices, environmental products.
A prize giveaway has started in which you can win one of three of their Fairtrade International Phoenix Pro Soccer balls. You can go to their Instagram page, @rrepp_australia, to enter the draw. While you’re there have a look at their products and their philosophy.
Gillian Daley
Director of Identity
Clean Up Australia Day
Last Saturday we held our annual Clean Up Australia Day event. Here are two student reports from the day.
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Sunday morning on March 3rd, a group of volunteer teachers, student leaders, and students ranging from Years 5-12 set off on a mission to rid the streets of Strathfield and our campus of trash. We met in front of the chapel in the morning and set off in groups armed with gloves, and bags. These groups would be split further in two to cover both sides of the streets and march methodically, combing the gutters and walkways of local Strathfield streets. We found all manner of trash and split recycling with general waste, however to our pleasant surprise the residents and council of Strathfield have done an incredible job keeping Strathfield clean. Along the march we encountered a family in the car who was interested in what we were all doing. We explained that we were partaking in Clean Up Australia Day, and they cheered us on as they drove off.
However, our main takeaway from Sunday was the jarring reality that a large majority of the trash that at least my group collected came directly from within our campus. Plaguing all around the bus bays, and around the Crichton building, trash lay like an infection on a land that we the residents of SPC are supposed to be stewards of and care for.
This should be a wake-up call for all of us that while Clean Up Australia Day is a great initiative, the greatest solution to our trash is not dropping it in the first place. We ask you all to encourage those around you to change the culture around casual littering. Overall, however, it was a wonderful experience for us all.
Xavier Amalan and Noah Young | Faith in Action Team (FIAT)
“Be the change you wish to see in the world” Mahatma Ghandi
Australia has a waste problem. As a nation we produce around 76 million tonnes of waste every year. To put this into context, in 2017 we were only producing about 60 million tonnes per year, a crazy amount nonetheless, but still a significant decrease from where we are today.
Our annual participation in Clean Up Australia Day is just one way that we, as a College community, can ‘be the change we wish to see in the world’ and do our part to raise awareness for our nation’s growing waste problem and combat the amount of it that goes to landfill as opposed to being recycled.
We had an amazing turnout of around 90 boys from across the cohorts who took to the streets, armed with bags and gloves, looking for rubbish to collect and dispose of correctly. While our contribution might seem like a drop in the ocean, especially in a suburb like Strathfield that is relatively clean already, all actions large or small can collectively make a difference.
What was disappointing to note, however, was the fact that we discovered more rubbish within the grounds of SPC than the entirety of the surrounding streets of Strathfield combined! The rubbish around bus lines, Breen Oval seats and in the Year 11 yard specifically was a very poor reflection on the attitudes of the boys towards something as simple as putting your rubbish in the bin. Boys, your rubbish belongs in the bin – not in the bushes, under your seats, on the floor, in the garden beds or in the drains. You all know what's right, it doesn’t take much effort to do it.
Again, combatting these issues is all about ‘being the change you wish to see’, so never underestimate the power of seemingly simple actions – if everyone emulates their desired change, greater scale change becomes much easier to achieve. Some simple things you can do around waste-management include volunteering for a clean-up around your own suburb, recycling bottles or cans with the return-and-earn program or differentiating your household waste properly to avoid excess waste going to landfill.
Thanks go out to Mrs Sinadinos, Ms Cupac and Ms Daley who assisted in the behind-the-scenes organisation of the day and, most importantly, the other teachers and boys who all gave up their Sunday mornings to step up, clean up and be the change.
Daniel De Pasquale | Sustainability Prefect
SPC Lenten Appeal - Hot Cross Bun Fundraiser
Bakers Delight have offered our school the opportunity to participate in their Hot Cross Bun Fundraiser for 2024, to be delivered just before Easter.
For each packet of six hot cross buns purchased, Bakers Delight will donate $2.00 back to our school. All funds raised will be donated to our Lenten Partners - Lucas Gardens School, Chalmers Road School, St Joseph’s Alice Springs and the Edmund Rice Life Training Centre in Papua New Guinea. Bakers Delight pride themselves on maintaining the highest possible quality products by using only quality ingredients.
We will be offering the following varieties:
- Traditional fruit
- Fruitless
- Choc Chip
Please order your hot cross buns here!
Orders will close at midnight, Sunday 17 March.
Hot cross buns will be distributed to students (eldest child to collect) at lunchtime on Monday 25 March 2024.