‘Act justly, love tenderly and walk humbly with your God’. This is the mission of St Columba’s Catholic College in Springwood NSW, a school community that makes faith in action come alive for their students.
For over five years, the school has run a food drive each August to respond to people’s needs. It encourages students in each year level to donate different types of food. All the food donated goes to our Ignite Food Store in Mount Druitt.
“The St Columba’s food drive comes at such an important time of year for Ignite”, says Claire Thomas, Director Identity and Ethos – School and Community Engagement at Jesuit Social Services. “At the end of winter, our stock levels are quite low so it means we can continue supporting our local community.”
More recently, under the leadership of principal Phillip Scollard, the school community has raised funds for our Western Sydney programs through its annual St Columba’s Feast Day. The day is an opportunity for reflection, to have fun, and for the school community to engage in social justice issues.
“Our feast day is a wonderful opportunity to celebrate all that is good about our beautiful community, the gifts we each have and the way we share them with one another”, Phillip shares.
The opportunity to share some of these gifts with Jesuit Social Services is a reminder to each of us - staff, students and our families - that we are part of a much bigger community and that our call to act justly is the call for each of us to build God’s kingdom little by little. We are delighted to have the opportunity to work with and support Jesuit Social Services.”
Principal, St Columba's Catholic College, Springwood
