December Newsletter - What's new at CFF...
Well what a memorable year 2020 has been. Despite the tumultuous circumstances, we remained committed to delivering our impactful programs and support to the 1600+ Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students and their families that we work with. It was a year of pivoting and adapting, and through collective innovation, our work did not stop. We are so proud of the team for their efforts and all students for their achievements this year. To our partner communities in Woorabinda, Palm Island, Wurrumiyanga and Galiwinku, to families, schools, and students, thank you for an enormous and rewarding year. Your partnership and the side by side journey we are fortunate to walk with you is very special. Thank you to our supporters, donors, partners and friends of the Foundation. Without your generosity and belief in what we do, our impact and work wouldn’t take shape the way that it does. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. I invite you to read on below and see what the Foundation has been implementing the back half of this year. We look forward to 2021 and the opportunities waiting to be unlocked. Please enjoy this holiday season with your loved ones, friends and family. Regards, Jade Colgan, Chief Executive Officer
GRADUATIONS IN COMMUNITY Congratulations to the 36 Year 12 Graduates across our partner communities!
2020 HORIZONS Our Horizon camps which are usually held in major cities, went ahead this year albeit in a different format owing to COVID-19. As a result, Horizons was transformed into local community-based camps, with the intent to continue providing opportunities for our students in the safest possible way. In October and November, 3 senior camps were run for local Years 9-12 students. Junior camps for the year 5-8 students ran in December. The senior camps focused on the journey after completing school, with local universities such as James Cook University, Central Queensland University and Charles Darwin University all coming on board to present post-schooling pathways in each respective community. Furthermore, each community held a Careers Expo, where local organisations were invited to present to the students about different types of careers. Organisations that attended included Queensland Police, Queensland Ambulance Service, DATSIP, local youth, health and employment services, TAFE providers and the Defence Force to name a few. The Galiwin’ku senior camp looked a little different to the Queensland ones, as it was co-designed with Shepherdson College. As a result, CFF was able to provide a camp in Nhulunbuy, a local town close to Galiwin’ku. There, students completed a ‘Swim to Survive’ program and visited the Yirrkala Art Centre, led by a local artist Siena Stubbs, the youngest ever NATSIAA winner among other sessions ran by CFF. The junior camps focus on teamwork and communications skills, as well as learning more about themselves as ‘superheroes’. CFF is thankful to our principal partner, Viva Energy, who has continued to support us through the adapted Horizons program and we look forward to running full Horizons camps again next year in major cities when it is safe to do so.
20 YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF THE SYDNEY OLYMPICS As an organisation, CFF had great joy in celebrating the 20 year anniversary of our founder’s gold medal win at the Sydney Olympics. We hope you managed to catch glimpses of CFF and our work across various media outlets at the time.
STRIDE FOR EDUCATION
Our inaugural virtual running event Stride for Education was a success and we are so grateful to everyone who got involved. We had over 3600 people from around the world participate - from Cape York to Singapore. Families, colleagues, friends and schools banded together and collectively moved over 932,626 kilometres. That is further than travelling to the moon and back! Saint Joseph's Primary School from Beechworth, Victoria is one example of this power of teamwork in reaching a common goal. Their grade 6 class moved 317 kilometres collectively in just one day, and raised $1000 between them!
On average each participant in the event moved approximately 257 kilometres across the month, which is a phenomenal effort. Lastly, we raised over $80,000 which will go directly towards towards building on our impactful programs in our partner communities. Again, thank you to every single person and organisation that was involved.
FAMILY OPEN DAYS AND STARTING BLOCK AWARDS The Foundation enjoyed positive and fun Family Open Days and Starting Block Awards across our four partner communities in Term 3 and very recently in Term 4. It's always so special to have families and community enjoying and participating in the open days, as well as seeing the many students smiling faces as they are rewarded but importantly acknowledged the work and effort they’ve put in across a school term.
