By KATH GANNAWAY
A NEED to get a few blackberries under control has introduced Yarra Junction resident Fred Hawker to a group of young people who took on the job … and much more.
Fred, a returned serviceman and Upper Yarra RSL member, has been staunchly independent all his life, but at nearly 90, and with a big garden to look after, he admits that keeping the garden in check is a challenge.
He was both happy and amazed, he said, to see members of Upper Yarra Secondary College’s Year 9 and 10 Leadership Group on his doorstep on Wednesday (18 May) with garden tools, gloves and a ‘can do’ attitude to match.
The school has formed a partnership with Upper Yarra RSL to run their homecare program for older community members who need a bit of help.
“The goal of the program is to expose our young people to community service and the value that has in their own lives as well as those they are helping,” Junior School Leader, Mitchell Gray said.
“A big part of the program is also keeping the older residents in touch with their community and having some friendly faces around them; in this case, it’s teenage faces.”
In the first term, the students do classroom work including communication, organisation and reporting.
For most of the students, gardening is not something they readily put their hand up to do at home, but working as a team and seeing just what a difference their efforts mean to people like Mr Hawker, is reinforcing one of the textbook messages.
“When we had Geoff Smith out from the RSL in term one, he talked about the role of volunteering as being much more about what you get than what you give,” said co-assistant principal, Michael Schultz.
“These kids absolutely get that now,” he said.
Student Carla Zekas said she actually did do gardening at home, but her main motivation for being part of the Homecare Group was that she just liked to help.
She said she was happy to help anyone in need.
“That Mr Hawker served this country is such a good thing and I want to help people like him and return the favour, but I am really keen to help anyone who needs help,” she said.
