Forty students from the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) stopped in Lue on the weekend to paint, garden, clean and renovate at the little school, for a lesson in community.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The Big Lift - which is in its 10th year - is founded on the philosophy of 'Paying it Forward', it's a student-run, volunteer organisation that takes students on a nine-day bus trip through regional Australia to complete various volunteering projects.
"They were keen, full of energy and eager to get started," Caron McDonald, Lue Public School principal, said.
And she added that in less than four hours they had; given coats of preservative stain to the outdoor timber play equipment and the student cubby house, and painted chalk board paint on the panels inside the latter; raked leaves and twigs from the whole school site, and compacted them into veggie garden beds to produce a compost base; removed old tree limbs; cleaned out the chook coop and given the outside a coat of stain; emptied the sport shed, discarding any broken equipment and sorting everything; cleaned and restocked the shed, labelling all shelves and kits; moved spare furniture into the newly acquired shipping container for storage; transformed the library by moving books and shelving; and visited an elderly Lue resident to help with some garden work.
"They were fantastic, such a positive, well mannered and enthusiastic bunch of young people who are just keen to 'give back' to society and find out a little about life in our small communities," Mrs McDonald said. "They have helped us so much with jobs that would have taken the whole two weeks of the holidays to get done. We are so very grateful for their visit.
"Young people often get such a bad rap nowadays and this group just proved that there are so many more great young people out there. Can't wait for them to come back again one day."
The aim of the trip is to focus on community engagement, working closely with towns across the country to provide help where it is needed. It included plenty of educational moments as well, such as a talk by Lue resident - and recent OAM recipient - Hunter White and his wife Sue-Ann about the history of the locality and farming/rural life in general.
They were treated to a barbecue and music by Bushrock - kindly organised and provided by Kandos/Rylstone Rotary Club as part of a drought aid spirit raiser - and were joined by a number of locals too.
Before heading off to their next town, Baradine, to do it all over again.
"The Big Lift aims to help create global citizens that are socially conscious and empowered to be a part of things they want to see changed," Melissa Jimenez, president of The Big Lift, said.
