April 30, 2014
Twelve months ago, a small school at Laidley was left reeling after devastating floods swept through the area for the second time in two years.
The community sprang into action to help them.
That generosity made an impression and when the students heard this year about Queensland farmers battling drought, they decided to lend a hand as part of a social justice project dubbed “Rural Connect”.
At the same time, students at St Mary’s Catholic College in Kingaroy were raising funds for local farmers through their “Harmony Day” activities.
St Mary’s principal Michael Nayler was looking to locate hay to buy with these funds when he heard about the Laidley project … and two Catholic schools, both named St Mary’s, decided to join forces.
St Patrick’s Primary School at Nanango joined in, raising funds at a “Bootscootin’ Disco”.
The results of all that fund-raising rolled into the South Burnett today when a convoy of vehicles loaded with hay and other items visited St Patrick’s in Nanango and the Catholic College in Kingaroy on their way to being unloaded at Cloyna.
Two semi-trailers were carrying 35 tonnes of sorghum stubble from the Lockyer Valley. Support vehicles were carrying a tonne of lick blocks plus 400kg of dog food.
Joining the donations were 1200 biscuits cooked by Year 5/6 students in Kingaroy.
St Mary’s Laidley principal Nathan Haley said the schools had consulted with Carolyn Stone from AgForce to best direct the donations.
After being unloaded at a farm in the Cloyna area, the hay bales and other items will be distributed to 35 farmers in the Proston / Windera areas.
The trucks and drivers were donated by Gehrke Grains & Transport from Hatton Vale; HPC Ag Contracting did the baling and Laidley Town & Country provided the dog food and licks at a discount price. The sorghum stubble was also purchased at half-price.
The students from the three schools raised about $9500 in total, with in-kind donations taking the value to between $15,000 and $16,000.
Students from St Mary’s Laidley have already started fund-raising again so that more convoys can be sent to struggling farmers.
- Related article: Harmony And Hay Bales
- External link: Lockyer Valley Students Repay Kindness
