THIRTY thousand cups of water spiked with TLC – tender loving care – were given to foolies, schoolies and toolies at Surfers Paradise last week during the annual, seven-day party.
To clarify, yes, it’s not only the older kids who crash Schoolies Week.
The younger ones who are yet to reach Year 12 – dubbed “foolies” – also join the fun.
But among the swarm of staggering teens, slurring their sentences and swearing frequently, Rosies ran a judgement-free recharge zone for seven nights.
Though battling a plague of crickets and constantly being mistaken for Red Frogs, volunteers distributed free water and iced tea and provided a safe place for anyone in need.
Their first visitor was 15-year-old Jess, carried from the beach by a Sate Emergency Service worker and two police officers, who found her lying “cactus on the sand”.
Jess sat down and drank some water before asking a Rosies volunteer to phone her boyfriend to collect her.
Minutes later Jess’ friend, also intoxicated, began reapplying make-up and suggested she “find a new boyfriend” who would fetch her quicker.
The friend also told a volunteer she “should really do modelling” and asked “why on Earth” she worked for Rosies instead.
Rosies chaplain Oblate Father Pat Dwyer was standing nearby and said this was a typical Schoolies case.
“The girls get themselves into bad situations, you see, they lose all their inhibitions when they drink and it’s dangerous because the boys could really take advantage of them,” he said.
Fr Pat felt being non-judgemental was one of Rosies’ core concepts.
“We take people as they are,” he said. “We don’t question them we just let them talk.
“We don’t ever preach from the top and we don’t look down. We aim to be present, side by side with the people.”
Rosies, established in Queensland in 1987, became the first outreach organisation to operate at Schoolies.
Its volunteers would drive vans along the highway, providing safe lifts for young people hitchhiking into Surfers.
“In those days Schoolies was absolute mayhem,” Fr Pat said.
“There were people drinking in the streets, hoons with cars, just no law and order at all.”
Schoolies may be more controlled now, but as Rosies general manager Bob Boardman said, the young people still faced choices in relation to drugs, alcohol and sexual abuse.
“The need is very much still there for organisations like Rosies,” he said.
“These teenagers are young and inexperienced, often Schoolies is their first time away from home by themselves and they get into situations they haven’t been in before.”
After bandaging several glass-cut toes and sending one injured boy to hospital, volunteer Jo Dey then spent 45 minutes comforting 18-year-old Hannah, who had been wandering alone after her boyfriend “ditched” her and allegedly stole her phone.
Hannah, too afraid to let Jo phone her parents, had nowhere to go because the couple had planned to sleep in his car.
Jo first attended Schoolies with Rosies last year, after her daughter Danielle graduated from Marymount College, Burleigh Heads.
“As a parent it made me feel so much less anxious seeing how organised the week was,” she said.
“I realised it wasn’t as unsafe as people portray it.
“I feel a little more threatened by the crowd this year but generally the children are very appreciative.”
Former St Joseph’s Nudgee College student Alex Cottrell was doing his fourth year at Schoolies with Rosies, and agreed the event was often judged unfairly.
“I think it’s a really important rite of passage for Year 12s,” he said.
“Especially for those who come from sheltered lifestyles, it’s important for them to get out there and be exposed to new things.”
Alex also felt that, despite the excessive – often underage – alcohol consumption during Schoolies Week, young people were generally polite and well-behaved.
“There didn’t seem to be as many affected by drugs this year too,” he said.
In fact, it’s the kerfuffle of Schoolies Week which has made Rosies the organisation it is today.
After its first Schoolies outreach 21 years ago, Fr Paul Costello – who brought Rosies to Queensland from Rosebud, Victoria – noticed a greater need.
“From our contact at Schoolies we saw there was a need to reach out all year round to young people and people who are isolated from society for whatever reason,” Bob Boardman said.
Today, Schoolies is just one of many important events for Rosies including feeding the homeless and visiting the courts, youth detention centres and prisons.
It seems Rosies have mastered the TLC concoction, and, 30,000 thirst-quenched foolies, schoolies and toolies agree.
To echo their slurred, but appreciative words during this year’s celebration, “Thanks Rosies, you guys rock”.
– Amy Simmons is a journalist with The Catholic Leader
