Boots and Balls arrive in the Tiwi Islands.
The delivery of Footy Boots and Balls was completed last week to the kids of Xavier College on Bathurst Island in the Tiwi’s. The delivery was made possible with the help of Downer Group Indigenous , Diversity and Inclusion specialist Moana Matthews and the AFLNT.
Moana has provided us with this report on the day…
Good morning all,
Greg Farmilo and myself completed the delivery of the boots and balls to Xavier College on Friday. Lance (Tess’s husband amongst many other hats he wears) kindly picked us up in the school bus after landing in a rather small plane.
We went on to the school with the boxes of goods where we were greeted by the warm and welcoming staff at Xavier Catholic College. We were taken on a tour of the college which was very impressive and met some of the students and more teachers along the way.
School assembly was called for 10am where the kids and a few camp dogs gathered in the gymnasium. Sadly due to Sorry Business, many of the students were away due to a death in the community the day before. Tess addressed the students in supplying the beautiful back story as to how this initiative all came about and passed over to Greg and myself to share a little about Downer and how/why we came on board.
We then got to the fun part of ripping boxes open to see who could fit what, it really was first in best dressed…..but there was certainly no shortage of Downer socks, with 100 pairs in supply….socks for everyone!! We pumped up the balls (electric pump thankfully) and before we knew it, footy’s were flying off the end of footy boots and red socks everywhere, the kids loved it.
We had great media coverage on the Thursday with the publication in the NT News and the story was in the news reel every hour on the hour throughout the day over the 2 main radio stations. I am still receiving messages from the public asking if I need any more boots!!!
On behalf of Greg and myself, a big thank you to all of you who made this happen – we were simply the lucky ones who got to see the kids faces on the receiving end for all of your hard work and big hearts. Tess had asked me to ensure we pass a very appreciated thank you to the staff and parents of Maribyrnong Sport Academy, but most of all to the students – outstanding young sportspeople and leaders.
What a beautiful way to close out 2018 😊
