Service at Fairholme
Fairholme prides itself in the many co-curricular activities offered to its students and a main theme within these activities is to provide our girls the chance to grow as members of their community, as Australians and as citizens of the wider region. ‘Service’ is a major co-curricular component for our Year 11 girls especially. In order to provide for this, we offer opportunities for participation in a number of service Clubs and service-related activities.
Fairholme has an Interact Club which organises activities and participates in major events, to collect money for charities. In the past this has included:
- The Endeavour Doorknock
- The Red Shield Appeal
- Support to some Toowoomba Rotary Club events
- Other events within the school such as Jeans for Genes and Fashion Parades which collect money for various causes.
There are also numerous other activities of a general nature that the girls are encouraged to attend, such as:
- Relay for Life
- Peak to Park fun run
- Year 9 Enterprise
- Various activities during Spring Fair
- Junior School fundraising activities such as Jump Rope for Heart, Charity breakfasts and ‘themed’ free-dress days
However, the signature service activities organised by the College are specifically for students in Years 11 and 12. These involve a significant commitment from the girls involved, but they result in significant satisfaction, personal growth and reward. These service activities are:
- Sony Camp. In conjunction with Toowoomba Grammar School, the camp is held over a weekend where approximately 12 Year Eleven students spend the weekend with severely handicapped children.
- Operation Christmas Child. This activity is organised through Samaritans Purse and every Pastoral Care Group in the School gathers together items to pack in a ‘shoe box’ and send to a child in a village in one of our neighbouring countries. In the past, these boxes have been sent to countries such as Vietnam and Cambodia. The boxes are collected and sent to Brisbane for shipping and for several years now, Year 11 students have volunteered their time to travel to Brisbane for a day to work on the packing/sorting line.
- Christmas Box Overseas Distribution. Samaritan’s Purse has asked Fairholme College to take their involvement one step further and have invited the College to put together a team of girls who will get the privilege of travelling overseas with the ‘shoe boxes’ and assisting with their distribution. Planning is underway to send up to twelve Year 11 and 12 students on a distribution, probably in Vietnam, in January 2013.
- MIZPAH Home. Since 2008, the College has sent a team to visit an orphanage in Ootacamund, South India. Girls from Year 11 travel in their Christmas holidays to spend time at the orphanage, interacting with the Mizpah children and working on special projects such as repainting the buildings, furniture and fittings. The activity is named the Discovery Tour as we hope the girls discover the joy of service to others, learn about other cultures and also a little about themselves.
Included in this tour is a time for the girls to work in a rehabilitation centre in Ootacamund called ‘Smyrna’ which caters for children with severe physical issues as a result of things like polio, cerebral palsy, amputations and so on. The team spend one full day on this centre.
The team is also involved in the Mizpah Home ‘beggar program’ which is a nigh time outreach, including a food and clothing distribution, to the local beggars in Ootacamund. See 2012 Discovery Tour details » - The Boarder Service Committee are also involved with many volunteer projects including: Riding for the Disabled, visits to a local Nursing Home, raising money for Australia’s largest morning tea and collection of old mobile phones and ring pulls. Their most recent endeavour has been fortnightly visits to the Toowoomba City Church base youth group, Base 57 for underprivileged children from years 5 to 7, where they provide dinner for around 30 children and arrange games for them to partake in with the help of other youth leaders.
- ECOSERVICE. Planning is underway for Year 11 students to attend an ECO service trip during the end of Semester One break. The aim of this activity is to provide an opportunity for girls to help our environment in some way. Current thoughts are to help keep clean the sea grass habitat of the dugong in North Queensland or to preserve habitat for the endangered Hairy Nose Wombat in South Australia. ECO service trip are proud sponsors of Marine Debris Removal Program
For further information about these service activities, please contact the school office who will forward your details to the relevant organisers.
