Clothing appeal a big success for Notre Dame\u27s Social Justice students

Students from the Social Justice Group at The University of Notre Dame Australia’s Fremantle Campus recently took part in a clothes drive to assist homeless people in the Fremantle community. The students had been looking for a worthy local project that they could support and the annual Winter Appeal, coordinated by the St Vincent de Paul Society, fitted the criteria they were looking for. “The idea of supporting the homeless came when we left an event recently and saw a man lying down on the footpath. It just hit us how close the situation really was to us. You hear it on the news all the time that the numbers of homeless people are rising and there it was right in front of us,” said Arts student, Sejla Pervis. Law and Arts student, Sarah Crute, who made the group aware of the Winter Appeal is a volunteer with St Vincent de Paul. St Vincent’s is the largest charitable organisation in Western Australia. Each year they hold a winter appeal, with this year’s theme being ‘This time it’s personal’. For three weeks, large boxes were placed in different places on the Campus enabling both staff and students to contribute clothing and shoes to assist the drive. “The response has been fantastic. Just looking at how full the boxes are after only three weeks is truly amazing!” said Miss Pervis. “Finding that personal attachment to social justice and seeing how local it is and how much of a change you can make is so rewarding. Something like a warm jumper can make a big difference to someone’s life. “It’s not necessarily about giving money or perhaps travelling overseas and volunteering, it can be as simple as supporting an organisation like St Vincent’s that does such great work,” said Miss Pervis. Media contact: Rebecca Cassidy 08 9433 0611, 0408 959 13