News - STORM Co

Youth teams take countryside by STORM
Warburton, Victoria

In recent months, a number of STORM Co (Service To Others Really Matters) teams have gone to various towns around Australia to run kids clubs, work on service projects and share God with others through different forms of outreach.

^ Macquarie College STORM Co team members Breanna Lewis, Jenny Hosken and Nicole Wilson ballooning in the main street of Walgett.

From July 5 to 13, a group of 23 students from Macquarie College in Wallsend, New South Wales, went to Walgett. The students and teachers from the college got involved with outreach, kids clubs and service projects. The trip was coordinated by Pastor Brad Rae, the college’s senior chaplain, with two former students, Marc Hinten and Stephanie Jamieson, as co-leaders.
An average of 45 local children attended the kids club program each day, coming from Walgett, Namoi Aboriginal village and Gingi Aboriginal mission. The programs featured clowning, ballooning, puppetry, drama, face-painting and stories, all conducted by STORM Co team members.
The STORM Co team also took part in gardening work at the local hospital, visited other churches in the area, helped paint the Collarenebri Anglican church, visited elderly people in a retirement home and provided Sanitarium breakfasts for two Aboriginal communities.
Pastor Rae says, “The outreach, kids clubs and service projects to the community were successful. However, the team members themselves also grew in their own spiritually, personal character and leadership abilitiy through the experience.”

^ The Nunawading STORM Co group.

For the seventh year in a row, a STORM Co team from Nunawading church visited Camperdown, a small rural community in western Victoria, to conduct a kids club and provide community assistance. With an age range of 15 to 44 years, this year’s youth group ran a children’s holiday program in the Camperdown Uniting church. They also visited two local nursing homes, armed with gifts of Freddo frogs and attractive Bible-text cards, and assisted the small local Adventist congregation with church maintenance.
Team leader Carlie Dunne estimates that around 75 per cent of the children return each year. According to Ms Dunne, “One of the benefits of visiting the same location each year is that the local children look forward to our visit, and keep on coming back and bringing new friends.”
Nunawading church’s senior pastor, Trevor Rowe, says he is extremely proud of Ms Dunne and her team. Pastor Rowe says that “while it is true that the program is primarily geared to serve others, the real benefits are evident in the lives of the kids who participate. This is a team of young people totally united in their cause, their friendships with other team members and their service to God. I have seen the benefits of STORM Co firsthand. This program builds lifetime friendships and at the same time proves service to others really does matter.”

^ Avondale College students went to a variety of towns to conduct STORM Co outreach.

Avondale College also got into the STORM Co spirit, with a 17-member team led by first-year nursing student, Angie Butcher, spending time in Coonabarabran (NSW). According to the local church’s pastor, Eddie Mackie, children in Coonabarabran “recognise Avondale College students make a difference and stand out from the world.”
The team fixed houses, cleaned up the town and ran a kids club—more than 100 children arrived on the first day. “It was overwhelming to start with,” says Pastor Mackie, “but indicative of the warm response from the community.
“The theme of giving and not expecting anything in return is refreshing,” he says. “To offer service with no strings breaks down barriers. By God’s grace, some of those kids will come into the kingdom because of the work of these students.”
“Avondale students have been going to Coonabarabran for years, so the kids remember you and tell you they want to be in STORM Co when they grow up,” says Ms Butcher.
Jessica Blake, a second-year arts and teaching student, had a similar experience in Gwabegar, where she led a team of 16. “The kids got really involved and would often organise the afternoon program themselves,” she says.
Four other STORM Co teams, led by Jeanine Bougaardt, Katie Brown, Bridgette Judge and Ashley Penz, served in Wallaga Lake, Goodooga, Macquarie Fields and Moree respectively.
Ms Brown found that although not everything went to plan, her team members were still able to mix with a range of community members. “Our bus driver dropped out, some of our team couldn’t come and the school didn’t want us,” she says. Yet she and her team members were able to meet the town’s Aboriginal elders. “It was our third year in Goodooga and it felt like our relationship with the town got a lot better,” she says.—RECORD staff with Brad Rae/Bronwyn Rowe/Trudy Adams