THE Mini Vinnies group at St Joseph’s School, Bardon, are a generous lot.
The group of enthusiastic students gave up a lot of their free time to promote and collect 16 crates of non-perishable food recently to pass on to those less fortunate through the great work of the St Vincent de Paul Society.
The annual Mini Vinnies food drive has become a tradition at the school under the watchful eyes of Year 5 teacher Louise Busby and Year 6 teacher Peter Vaughan.
Mr Vaughan said the aim of the food drive was to promote the Catholic ethos within the local community by asking children to bring canned food in for the poor.
Mini Vinnies group members presented Bardon St Vincent de Paul Society conference president Cathy Howlett with the crates of food at a school assembly.
Ms Howlett said she was delighted to accept the cans of food on behalf of the society and the people they helped.
She said conference members would bag up and hand out the cans on their regular visits to families in need.
Ms Howlett said it was great to see children making such a great contribution to Vinnies and, in turn, the wider community, through their generosity.
“Because our funds are limited the school food drive gives us the opportunity to provide more support to families in need,” she said.
“It also helped build on the connection between the school community and the conference.”
Mini Vinnies exists in many primary schools throughout Queensland, creating awareness among young students about issues that existed in their own community or beyond.
The program reinforces the mission of Vinnies and instils in schools the opportunity to be compassionate and run simple, yet effective initiatives with their school peers so together they can make a difference.
