Catholic Regional College Sydenham students Luke, Megan and Tayla volunteered to help out Victoria’s flood victims. 69050 Picture: DAMJAN JANEVSKI
By Alesha Capone
THREE teenagers with a great sense of community spirit have made their Sydenham school proud.
Students Luke Barallon, Tayla Di Giacomo and Megan Kaynak all volunteered to help out the Victorian communities of Rochester and Charlton, which were devastated by floods earlier this year.
Year 12 student Luke said while in Rochester, a group of around 14 students helped out an elderly couple whose farm was ravaged by the storm water.
They cleaned weeds and branches out of the property’s fence lines.
“The second time, in the term two holidays, we spent a week in Charlton,” Luke said.
Students cleaned the town’s golf course and along the Avoca River of flood detritus.
They also helped out a senior citizen whose floors and walls were destroyed by the rising water, by pulling up the woman’s floorboards.
“They were very thankful and appreciative, it was amazing how they grouped together as a community after the floods,” Luke said.
“The hardest part was the stories people told about their houses being destroyed.”
While sleeping at the local tennis club on their trip, the students even had mice – driven out of hiding by the floods – running over them in the night.
Tayla and Megan said the early mornings and hot weather they experienced while volunteering were their biggest challenges.
“I volunteered because my friends were part of it and it seemed like the right thing to do,” Megan said.
“I guess what I really enjoyed was to help people and it might not have been in a big way, but making their lives easier after what they went through, it would’ve been pretty horrible,” Tayla said.
In addition to volunteering after the floods, Tayla and Megan are members of the school’s Girls school Social Justice Group, which visits nursing homes and volunteers at the Edmund Rice Centre, an outreach for refugee and recently arrived students.
Luke, Megan and Tayla are the subject of this week’s Pride in Brimbank, a series Star launched to highlight the stories of everyday heroes who take pride in their community. If you know someone who fits the bill, call Star on 9933 4814.
