REGROW Conjola: Service Project
On Friday 13th November, the College Captains involved in the Stage 3 Service Program, along with Mr Thompson, visited Lake Conjola to participate in a ceremony, organised by Convoy of Hope, to donate the plants from the Regrow Conjola Service Project to the Conjola residents. This is the culmination of the work that the Stage 3 Service project undertook in Term 3, to pot and grow native tube stock to plant in Lake Conjola after the bushfires of January 2020.
The Service Program involves Year 5 and 6 students, who participate in activities to serve the local community. The service students spent two Friday afternoons re-potting 500 native tube stock. After that, we watered and cared for the plants until they were mature enough to be given to Conjola residents. The tube stock plants were bought through fundraisers held at Nowra Anglican College. The first fundraiser was the Father’s Day stall. The second fundraiser was a flora themed mufti day where we did fun activities.
On the day of the ceremony, the Conjola residents put a sign up in their local park with the donated plants. Kevin from Convoy of Hope spoke to Lake Conjola residents about the bushfire devastation and said he was inspired to help when he heard Frank’s story of the bushfires. Frank owned a nursery in Lake Conjola. Sadly the nursery and his house were burnt down during the bushfires. Some of the plants in the nursery were irreplaceable including a 60 year old fig tree bonsai that he had dedicated to his granddaughter.
The Conjola residents were allowed to take 20 donated plants each to regrow their gardens, as many of them had lost both their homes and gardens to the bush fires. As we said speeches and talked to residents many people came to select plants to rejuvenate their gardens.
First, the students came and ate lunch supplied by the Conjola residents. We talked to the organisers and the residents. We then said speeches and some Conjola locals expressed their feelings and gratitude to us for the plants. Frank gave a very inspiring talk about his experience in the fires. He also helped plant a banksia with us that was going to represent the students and the Conjola community growing together.
Cooper and James had the opportunity to share their opinions on how the plants would impact the Conjola people on Power FM.
We are so glad to have represented the Service Program students at Lake Conjola and hope that the plants have been able to give hope to residents.