SETON College, Mt Gravatt, has a history of supporting its staff and students in times of trouble and the 2011 Brisbane floods saw the community once again rally around a beloved staff member.
Seton maths teacher Bronwyn Barac was in New Zealand on holidays with her husband and daughter when the flood struck but fellow staff were galvanised into action once they realised her house had been inundated.
Almost half the staff arrived at Sherwood as soon as the water receded, ready to clean up the worst of the damage and minimise any shock to Bronwyn who is undergoing treatment for cancer.
They shovelled, pressure-cleaned, scrubbed and demolished walls for two days while farming out the salvageable but muddy contents to be washed and disinfected at their own homes and stored until the Barac family home is reconstructed.
The salvaged items included a special patchwork quilt hand made by each staff member of Seton when Bronwyn was seriously ill after major cancer surgery last year.
She had believed the quilt had been thrown out and was delighted when it appeared bright, freshly laundered and folded, good as new after being rescued from the mud by a Seton colleague.
Seaton College counsellor Anne Taylor-Foxley has accommodated Bronwyn and her family since the floods because, due to her treatment, Bronwyn has to be careful of bacteria and infection.
Fellow Seton staff members have also kept up a meals roster to lighten the cooking load with three extra people in the house.
Meanwhile, manual arts teachers and school officers have donated their skills and time to assist Bronwyn’s husband with demolition and major reconstruction of the Barac family home.
The college’s 230 students and teachers are also organising sausage sizzles, guessing competitions and ice-block sales to raise funds for victims of the many natural disasters that have beset 2011 and they are digging deeply into their pockets.
This is in keeping with the school motto “Sursum Corda”, lift up your hearts.
Like Saints Elizabeth Seton and Mary MacKillop they see a need and do something about it.
