ABN 73 591 401 592
Ozanam House 202 Franklin Street, Adelaide SA 5000 GPO Box 1804, Adelaide SA 5001 Administration: Ph (08) 8112 8700 Fax: (08) 8112 8799 Donation Enquiries: Ph: (08) 8112 8777 Fax: (08) 8112 8797
January 28th 2010
Email: svdpadmin@svdpsa.org.au Website: www.vinnies.org.au
To the REC / APRIM, Vinnies working with schools and Vinnies Social Justice Awards Once again, I invite schools to take up the offer to work in partnership. I would encourage you to share this letter with those in your school concerned with social justice, student leadership / Christian service. The School Resources Unit at St Vincent de Paul Society (SA) works with students, teachers and school leaders across school systems in both country and metropolitan South Australia. As educators seek meaningful ways for students to engage with justice issues and contribute to local community, Vinnies has increased and varied its partnership with schools.
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The School Resources Unit provides a variety of partnership opportunities. The attached brochure outlines possibilties and these change according to the needs of schools. We are able to tell the stories which will give meaning and background to action. Using a variety of presentation approaches, our work ranges from working with small student leadership groups to whole year level cohorts. Sometimes, campaigns are launched across a whole school in year level groups. By and large, young people recognise Vinnies and our reputation carries credibility with the whole community. Our School Resources Unit is primarily concerned with formation, working with teachers to help children understand that the things we do make a real difference in others’ lives.
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The 2nd Vinnies Social Justice Awards will be held on 1st September 2010. Last year over 200 students and post secondary young people received awards. Many schools indicated their intent to be involved for the first time this year and we expect numbers to grow. The Awards acknowledge good works already being done in schools. While the Awards are prestigious, they are about ordinary young people showing leadership – it is not a competition and we do not measure students from different schools against each other. There are also ‘group awards’ for those schools that wish to highlight social justice action of a group of students.
The St Vincent de Paul Society (SA) Inc helps many thousands of people through Home Visitation, Migrant and Refugee Assistance, Hospital and Prison Visitation, Vinnies Centres, Accommodation for Homeless Men, Overseas Partnership Development, School and Youth Programs, Fred’s Vans, Social Justice and Compeer Mental Health Friendship Programs.
Letters calling for Award nominations and criteria will be sent out in May; nominations will close at the end of June. See http://www.vinnies.org.au/vinnies-social-justice-awards-sa for more information and a list of schools involved in 2009.
I look forward to another year working closely with schools throughout South Australia. Some schools establish key partnerships with us and we welcome this close cooperation with school leadership teams, key teachers and student leadership groups.
Please do not hesitate to contact me with any enquiries.
Yours sincerely,
Tim Taylor School Resources Coordinator Ph 8112 8725 M 0438873555 Email: ttaylor@svdpsa.org.au