Junior Leaders Volunteering Day

On the 30 October  eight junior House leaders, Mr Westblade and Mrs Hogan travelled down to the Presentation Family Centre in Balnarring. There we met with students from four other Kildare Ministries schools - Clonard College Geelong, Marian College Sunshine, Killester College Springvale and Star of the Sea College Brighton.

The purpose of this trip was to enable us to experience hands on volunteering, gain an insight into the many benefits of volunteering, and to learn more about Kildare Ministries' Community Works.

A community work is an organisation whose purpose is to assist ordinary everyday people who are facing difficulties, to improve their situation. We all already knew a bit about the community work called the Brigidine Asylum Seeker Project. Presentation Family Centre is Kildare Ministries' other community work, and this is where we visited. The Centre is a place where people who are experiencing difficult times and perhaps can’t afford to stay in an expensive place can stay away for very little cost and still have a fun time in a nice place. It is very peaceful, beautiful and close to the beach.

After a short welcome and briefing by the General Manager, Lisa, we were given a list of tasks to try and complete before the end of the day. These tasks included cleaning, sanding and painting the Centre’s front fence and the furniture that goes into the cottages, as well as planting small trees into multiple gardens, and making and planting vegetable boxes.

Everyone from our school dusted and painted the fence for the entire day. Other schools joined in painting once they had finished their other tasks and we all finished painting the fence inside and out by the time we left.

Mr Westblade brought a couple of tool boxes and had to fix part of the fence, doors and outdoor furniture throughout the Presentation Centre. He was a great help and they would have him back anytime!

Volunteering at the Presentation Centre was very rewarding and not only did we help them but they helped us to realise that we are very fortunate to have the things that we do. Together we had a great day filled with smiles, laughs and conversations. Volunteering lets us give back to our community and others. Throughout your life, everyone should volunteer as it is a very rewarding and eye-opening experience to the things around you that you might not know are happening.

We would like to thank the Presentation Centre for hosting the day, our bus driver, Bob, who helped us get there and back home safely, Mrs Hogan and Mr Westblade for coming along with us for the day and opening our eyes to how others are less fortunate, and to the other schools for coming along to help out  these generous people.

                                                                         https://presentationfamilycentre.org.au/