Faith & Mission: Social Justice

miss Angela Liyanage | Social Justice Promotions Coordinator

Saint Oscar Romero once said “Aspire not to have more, but to be more”. Upon reflection, these simple words call us to remember that how we live our lives through caring for others, how we behave and how we demonstrate our values are all important measures as we continue to help fight the injustices that many members of our community face. We started Term 1 dedicating our fundraising efforts to Caritas, who continue their efforts both within Australia and globally to support communities that face poverty and injustices. Starting the year strong and held our annual sausage sizzle, Shrove Tuesday and Easter Raffle. Unfortunately, due to the challenges of COVID we were unable to host our Social Justice stand at the House Athletics Carnival.

This year, our Social Justice Captain Angus Fenton, along with our Pastoral Captain Dylan Suarez and Mission Ambassador William Kirkman proposed some new initiatives that we are hoping to carry on into the next year, one of the most successful ventures being the fortnightly Kahoots that ran in Term 1 and 2. In his handover to the incoming Faith and Mission Captains for 2022, Angus made sure to emphasise the need to continue the Kahoots which was enjoyed by students and participating teachers alike (a special mention to Ms Milesi for assisting in the supervision of these sessions)! Once again, we experienced an unexpected lockdown which prevented us from being able to run our Annual Don Bosco Oratory Week (and festival day) and hold our Homelessness awareness sessions, but as a College Community we embodied the call “to be more” by checking on each other during what was a very trying and difficult time. The Year 7s partook in Eat Up Australia where they made sandwiches for school-aged children across Victoria who often go to school without lunch, and the Year 8s fundraised for the Monash Children’s Hospital in Clayton, bringing in much-needed toys, books and activities for babies, toddlers, young children and teenagers. A special shout out to Menal Atapattulage, Seb Filipovic, Nick Orlando and Nic Katsos and for assisting in building the toy boxes that Ms Apostolopoulos and myself delivered to the hospital. Amongst the busyness and craze of Term 4, the VCAL students ran a very successful sausage sizzle that donated all proceeds to St. Vinnies for their Christmas Appeal, and the 2022 Faith and Mission Leaders asked the school community (including Coles Oakleigh!) for voluntary donations to help support Amaroo Neighbourhood House provide much needed support to families during the Christmas Season.

Though it has been an incredibly challenging year, it is enlightening to be able to look back and see the acts of kindness that each of us have demonstrated. Every contribution, from $2 for casual dress to toys and clothes for families who are need, we at Salesian College embody the message of “aspire not to have more, but to be more”. I would like to personally acknowledge each and every one of you for the role you have played in furthering our Social Justice causes.