The community of Ltyentye Apurte, located 80 kilometres south-east of Alice Springs, is set to benefit from the fundraising efforts of St Gregory’s College Year 10 students.
The boys from the Campbelltown-based school approached a number of community and sporting organisations, including the Sharks, in requesting donations to assist the remote Northern Territory town. Recognising the worthiness of the cause and the community St Gregory’s were looking to support, Sharks Have Heart donated a signed jersey, with the proceeds from that and other initiatives adding up to a total of around $5,000, funds to be used to purchase and provide food hampers during the Christmas-New Year holiday period.
Shaun Humphries, First Nations Liaison Officer at St Gregory’s encouraged the fund-raising activities, knowing outcome would be to provide healthy food options and while a whole of year 10 project, he was proud it was the Indigenous students at St Gregory’s who took the lead.
“I put a challenge to the Indigenous boys at the college to stand up and to take charge, and they did that,” Humphries said. “They did a really good job, I’m proud of the ownership they took and the leadership they showed.”
The school had identified Santa Teresa, now known as Ltyentye Apurte, an Arrernte Indigenous community in the Northern Territory with an estimated population of around 600, as being in need of their assistance. A drug and alcohol-free community, Ltyentye Apurte has just one shop/petrol station with an ATM, a police station and a health clinic, with those in the community speaking the Arrernte Language. Ltyentye Apurte Catholic School has around 130 students aged from three to 17, with the Senior Fellas (years 8-12) all in one classroom and with one teacher for all subjects. It is the same for the senior ladies. The senior students focus on employment skills and the senior girls have started making, painting and selling jigsaw puzzles to provide a form of income for themselves and their families.
When at school, the students receive three nutritious meals a day, however during the holidays many go hungry, hence the hampers the Year 10 boys of St Gregory’s College have helped provide and deliver. In addition to the Sharks signed jersey, St Gregory’s also accessed an assortment of jerseys, training gear, boots and various items from other NRL clubs and sporting organisations. “Whatever we could use. It all makes a difference,” Humphries added.
As for Sharks Have Heart, while receiving numerous requests for donations and assistance throughout the year, too many to be able to facilitate them all, the request from the St Gregory’s students was impossible to ignore. “It is an outstanding initiative from the students and the St Gregory’s school, and while only a relatively small gesture on our part, we hope we have contributed in some way to making a difference to the people of this remote Indigenous community,” Sharks Have Heart Programs Coordinator, Alex Biceski said.
For the Sharks Have Heart donations policy CLICK HERE
