CC+Report+for+2009

**Community Committee Report 2009**

The Community Committee (CC) is an amalgamation of the Environment Committee and the Social Service Committee. The CC is made up from elected class representatives whose job it is to help coordinate activities and suggest ways Cranbrook can assist our own school and the wider community here in Australia and around the world. We often tied in our activities with the officially organised and dated events to give our work a context and potentially, greater impact. Through the //40 Hour Famine//, the school raised nearly $7000. We were privileged to have Alex Lengarite from Kenya address the assembly and give us a first hand account of how life can be so different from our own. We have continued to support our World Vision sponsored boy, James, who is from Tanzania. A new initiative called //Games for James Day// raised over $300 for James and his community. The students from 5C wrote letters to James and he remarkably answered every one back! Our //Share-A-Book// campaign collected 4000 (?)books for disadvantaged Australian indigenous children. Along with Ms Light and the Library, the CC also helped promote the //MS Reader-a-thon// with MS sufferer Jason visiting the school to talk to the boys. In term 3, the school created a //Peace Dove// mural from coins collected from all around the world. Money raised was forwarded to the Qantas ‘Change for Good’ program. Our annual //Toys ’n’ Tucker// in Term 4 delivered much needed packs to families in need.

On the environment front, we continued our popular //Nude Food Day//. To help reduce litter further, we promoted compartmentalised lunch boxes as alternatives to wrapping lunches in gladwrap and paper. With each successive year passing, we have expanded our recycling program. This year we began reducing organic landfill by feeding some of the canteen leftovers to a worm farm. This means we now recycle paper, cardboard, plastics, cans, toner cartridges and organic waste. We were active participants in //Earth Hour// and //World Environment Day//. We collated and published a book of all the tips submitted by the boys for World Environment Day, which is housed in the library for viewing.

It is important to stress that the activities are not necessarily run or driven exclusively by the CC or teachers. //Clean Up Australia Day//, //Victorian Bushfire Appeal//, //The Mark Khutoretsky Appreciation Day// and //Sids’n’Kids// are examples of student initiated and run events.

In Term 3, Simon Finch, Tom Gojak, Oscar Watson-Smith and Laurence Nettleton proudly represented the School at the IPSHA //Social Issues Expo// hosted by Kings College. This gave the boys an opportunity to talk with their peers and glen ideas for future potential projects. It’s impossible to thank everyone here, but collectively the CC students, the whole Cranbrook student body, the parents and teachers should all be proud of the way they have magnanimously supported each event throughout the year. Working in line with the PYP program, the CC helps promote the virtues of empathy and caring for others. We look forward to continuing the program in 2010.