Actioning Mary MacKillop Advocacy in 2022!

Four years ago, Year 11 students, Elise Scrivens and Charlotte Voll, (who were then in Year 8), wanted to take action to do something for drought-affected farmers. After speaking with their parents and Mr Gabbett, the girls decided to form a social justice group with the aim of being witnesses to the service and advocacy of St Mary of the Cross MacKillop.

Thus, the Actioning Mary MacKillop Advocacy (AMMA) group was formed.

Four years later, the Senior College AMMA group has 17 members, ranging from Year 7 to 11. These members are: Elise Scrivens, Charlotte Voll, Charlotte Dobson, Sophie Winter, Hannah Rosenthal, Ava Knihinicki, Bella Scrivens, Gabby Voll, Henry Cleary, William Cleary, Chloe O'Rourke, Erin O'Rourke, Isabelle Pannach, Paige Hahn, Lilly Hayes, Gabby Aiken and Trinity Burow.

Each year, the AMMA group organises initiatives which touch on the cornerstones of social justice: charity/action, awareness, solidarity and advocacy. Throughout 2022, these initiatives have included:

Winter Blanket and Jacket Drive

The Winter Blanket and Jacket Drive has become an annual event at MMCC. At the beginning of Term 3, Tony Hurle from Tony's Community Kitchen and Nadine Dolan from St. Vincent de Paul visited Mary MacKillop to collect piles of blankets and jackets donated by our generous community.

Due to the generosity of Mary Mac families, we were able to provide Tony's Community Kitchen and Vinnies' patrons with hundreds of blankets and a variety of warm clothing. Given the chilly Toowoomba nights and rising rates of homelessness, the donations were gratefully received.

Thank you to all families in our community who supported AMMA's Winter Blanket and Jacket Drive this year. AMMA is looking at doing things a little differently next year...so watch this space! Socktober: Socking it to Poverty!

October is Mission Month and Socktober is always a time of excitement at Mary MacKillop Catholic College.

On Friday, 21 October, students and staff from Prep to Year 12 donned their bright and crazy socks and again raised much-needed funds for Catholic Missions and our very own AMMA group. This year's sausage sizzle total was a whopping $1060 and our families' kind donations to Catholic Missions for sock-wearing totaled $761. The AMMA group used a portion of their profits to purchase sanitary and stationery items for women and children in Timor-Leste and gifts for the Vinnies Christmas Gift Appeal.

In the five weeks prior to Socktober Day and for one week after, students in Prep to Year 11 were provided with a Socktober curriculum. These activities and reflections on scripture and message of the Catholic Church were delivered by classroom teachers in the Junior College and via Religious Education classes in the Senior College.

bright socks and why it is important to fundraise. This year, Catholic Missions' focus country was Ethiopia; thus, the activities centred primarily around disadvantages in education and the workforce in Ethiopia. Thank you particularly to Year 3 teacher, Miss Wittman, who spoke to students at Junior assembly about her own experiences serving the vulnerable in Ethiopia.

Despite the consistent rain, Socktober Day brought with it a fantastic vibe across the College. It is really a day of true solidarity and a chance to have a lot of fun! At first break, the AMMA group hosted a sausage sizzle. This was a busy event, with over 420 sausages distributed across P-12. A huge thank you must go to Bannock Brae Meats who donated 200 delicious sausages to the cause.

Usually on Socktober Day, soccer shootouts occur on the Junior campus and the Senior College staff battle it out in Igatius, playing against student teams in our annual Socktober futsal tournament. Unfortunately, due to the rain, these events were unable to occur on Socktober Day. Luckily, the weather eased in Week 4 and some of these activities were able to be run.

Thank you, as always, to families who supported Socktober, whether it was through purchasing a sausage, donating to the cause or simply dressing your child in bright socks, you have contributed to the mission of the College and have supported both the AMMA group and Socktober Catholic Missions through your generosity.

Mini Vinnies and AMMA St Vincent De Paul Christmas Gift Appeal

This year, our Year 5 Mini Vinnies students and Actioning Mary MacKillop Advocacy group promoted the annual St Vincent De Paul Christmas Gift Appeal.

Due to COVID in 2020, St Vincent De Paul moved away from food and non-perishable donations to instead collecting gift cards and presents for vulnerable families in Queensland. In 2021, Mary MacKillop decided to contribute gift cards and wrapped presents instead. This tradition continued this year.

Each classroom in the Junior College and PC group in the Senior College filled their baskets again this, buying for a child or teenager of a similar age to them. Staff and Year 11 students were encouraged to purchase for adults.

We are proud to be able to donate a generous swag of gifts and gift cards to our local St Vincent De Paul Conference. Thank you to our families who donated to this cause—your generosity never ceases to amaze us!

Timor-Leste: Friends of the Teresa Orsini Clinic

This year, AMMA was able to use the profits earned from their Socktober sausage sizzle to create care packages for young women in Timor-Leste. Timor-Leste is one of Australia's closest neighbours but is one of the world's poorest countries, having been ravaged by invasion, war and occupation following the vote for independence from Indonesia in 1999.

Through a connection with Michael Reiken, owner of Excel Power in Toowoomba and member of Master Electricians, the AMMA group were invited to connect with the young women who living in the Cova Lima Province of Timor-Leste.

The area has very poor socio-economic conditions, little to no education, malnutrition, high maternal and infant mortality rates, lack of water and sanitation, very difficult terrain and poor infrastructure. Very few villages have running water or electricity.

While Master Electricians are currently working on installing and connecting solar panels, batteries and generators, there has been a call from Sister Gilbert, a Mercy sister in charge of The Theresa Orsini Maternity clinic for recreational equipment, stationery and sanitary items for the young girls who reside in the Hostel in Maucatar.

This is where AMMA comes in!

Using the profits of the Socktober sausage sizzle, the AMMA group purchased various sanitary items, notebooks, pens and pencils for the young women who reside in Maucatar. As electricity and Wi-Fi are installed in future months, the Friends of Teresa Orsini Clinic, a registered charity which operates in this Province, have asked whether our students may like to use Skype or even hand-written letters to connect with the young women–many of whom are the same age as the members of AMMA.

We are excited to see where this connection with the Friends of Teresa Orsini Clinic will take us!