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Carers NT Garden Project
CDU Talloires students 'blitz' respite homes
CDU Talloires students Red Hendry, Ben Smith and Tammie Davidson, along with willing partner Karla and enthusiastic son Nicholas, spent a sunny Saturday tidying and brightening up two of the Carers NT respite houses.
The project was initiated by Tammie who saw students wanting to contribute to community whilst getting their hands dirty. Tammie connected this enthusiasm with a valuable organisation that happened to have some gardens that needed attention.
Tammie said, “It’s a great opportunity to help a very worthy organisation.”
Carers NT is an organisation that provides assistance and support to carers in the Northern Territory. As part of this assistance, Carers NT maintain and run respite houses designed to give carers a break from their unpaid assistance to a family member or friend who has chronic illness, terminal illness, mental illness or is frail.
Liz Madden, Executive Officer, Carer Services at Carers NT was only too happy to have students along for the day to tidy up the gardens of the houses.
Liz said, “It was great to have the students here for the day, we’d love to have them here more often! They visited the houses to pre plan and ensure that what they intended to do was beneficial to the organisation and the clients. The community spirit shown by all of the students was very encouraging.”
On the day, the ‘blitzing’ involved a general yard tidy and mow of the lawns of two houses, along with the removal of pesky palm fronds. The grass clippings from the lawns were spread over the garden as the team didn’t want to waste them. Vines were planted along the fences to create a more aesthetically pleasing view. And, with the support of local business, CDU Talloires was also able to set up some large pots with herbs and flowers.
Ben, a CDU Talloires member currently studying Environmental Science, believed the project was a positive way of building relationships between the university and the community.
Ben said, “It was a really enjoyable experience to join with fellow students and our families to help out Carers NT. We felt that by planting a few vines and some flowers too, maybe we would be brightening up someone’s day!”
CDU Talloires thanks Mitre 10 Casuarina and Tigers Discount Pots for their valued contribution of pots, potting mix and plants to this project.
For further information about this project, please contact Linda Cuttriss.
