In November 2020, Gulgong Public School had a row of freshly-planted roses yanked out through the fence by a vandal the day after they were planted.

The school's Principal David Lewis posted a photo of the dirt-covered aftermath to social media to highlight what had happened. It didn't take long for the post to be shared right across Australia by people that saw the senseless act and wanted to help.

"We were a bit shocked, we more than anything really didn't hope to get the roses back. We just wanted to draw attention to the fact that we'd tried to do something nice for the kids and it was vandalised," David said.

"I think we had 75,000 views of the post. We had people from as far away as Melbourne down in Victoria and Tasmania offering to buy the roses for us and replace them.

"We appreciated all the offers, but we just gave Bunnings a ring and said ' the roses we just bought from you have been taken' and Kerrie from Bunnings just said 'we will replace them with whatever you want.'"

It was too late in the season to plant roses again so the choice was made to go with ornamental plums and japanese box hedges. Bunnings also took the extra step and helped out with other gardens around the school as well and donated a 'buddy bench' to be installed on the school grounds.

David explained how the buddy bench works.

"Kids who, if their friends are away or they've got no one to play with during the break. They can sit on the buddy bench and people walk past and see them on the bench and say 'come and join my game' and things like that," he said.

"It's just a bit of way of helping kids that don't socialise as well as they could - to get them some new friends and meeting new people."

The school also took the step of installing a CCTV system that was installed free of charge by a local electrician with the aim of deterring or catching any future vandals.

David said the school's staff, students and their parents have been overwhelmed with the community's generosity and willingness to help.