2017 School Magazine

SECOND CHANCE

Second Chance, a non-for-profit organisation, seeks to support women experiencing homelessness in the community, while focusing on the associated issues regarding domestic violence and mental health. The 2017 Brisbane Girls Grammar Shool Second Chance Committee has had another successful year with many new faces attending meetings and every member passionately contributing to ideas about promoting awareness and raising funds. Additionally, the girls have worked hard in contributing raised funds to support events such as the CASA Mackay Homeless Expo and Homeless Connect. With ongoing team commitment and effort, we successfully turned our ideas into reality. These include our two hot chocolate stalls, our recipe book and various other fundraisers, which all raised a significant amount for food vouchers. Of course, we continued the tradition of the Valentine’s Day bake sale, our annual toiletry drive, raising awareness during Homelessness Prevention Week and the Second Chance Christmas Giving Tree for Bahloo Youth Shelter and the Zig Zag organisation. We were fortunate enough to have Ms Dale Spender, the founder of the external Second Chance committee, Ms Kathleen Noonan, a dedicated member, and Ms MacDonald, who works with Combined Women’s Refuge, hold a forum to share many insightful stories and confronting experiences regarding homelessness. It was an extremely special and important session where the girls became much more aware of domestic violence in the wider community. None of this year’s activities would have been possible without the help of our dedicated and passionate teacher coordinators, Ms Coughlan and Ms Vize, and support from Mrs Mungomery. ABIRAMI SOMASUNDARAM (12M), JENNIFER ZHANG (12M), ELISHA LIN (12R) AND CLAIRE CHEN (12M) SECOND CHANCE STUDENT LEADERS

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