On Thursday 27 November,  a group of 20 students from Johnstone and Kelynack Houses traveled by bus to the Big W Distribution Centre in Hoxton Park, south-west of Sydney. The boys spent the morning packing candle bags for sale at the Carols in the Domain event in support of the Salvation Army and our House Charity, Oasis Youth Support Network.

The morning involved the co-ordinated efforts of students with two roles. The first job involved moving around a circuit, filling re-usable shopping bags with over 30 individual items such as packets of chips, boxes of tea and tins of mints, donated by companies to the cause.

The second group was in charge of continually stocking the circuit with goods from stacks of boxes in the centre, ensuring that each object remained in stock for the first group to add to the bags. With co-ordinated team effort, the boys made up 1,872 bags in the three hours they were packing. A new single session record topped the past best of 1,584. By selling the bags for $15 dollars each – well under the retail price of the contents – the boys raised $28,000, a big achievement for a short period of time.

Though this experience, the boys learned what it means to give time to a charitable cause and see the impact first hand rather than just donating money at a school event. We also have a new respect for work conducted at a big distribution centre and the amount of stock which moves through it every day.

Fletcher Howell (10/JN)
Year 10 Student