The PCYC Napranum car wash was co-ordinated to raise funds to buy uniforms ahead of this year’s Bunburra Indigenous beach touch football tournament. Photo: Supplied.
The young team at PCYC Napranum are taking charge of raising money for uniforms their touch football team will wear later in the year on the famous sand of the Gold Coast’s beaches.
More than 20 youth, aged five to 18, worked together to wash cars for the community last month to raise $381 to go towards uniforms for the team that will represent the community at the annual Bunburra Indigenous beach touch football tournament.
Club manager Sergeant Rhonda Spence said she got “enormous pride” seeing the display of car washing teamwork.
“They were so supportive of each other,” she said.
“There was so much joy in their excitement to get in and do something together.”
The tournament uniforms – and the car wash to make it them reality – was completely thought of by the young PCYC Napranum attendees.
“They wanted to go down united as one team,” Sergeant Spence said.
“They want to stand out, and be proud of who they are and where they come from.”
She said the featured design, a cultural mural created by the youth leadership team, would showcase Napranum’s culture to teams and spectators on the Gold Coast.
“It’s exposing the kids to a wider audience, but also supporting the community as well, through knowledge of where they are from and the culture on their shirt, so they’re proud of the fact that their culture is expressed through their uniform,” Sergeant Spence explained.
“It was very important that the youth explained to the people who got their cars washed what it was all about.
“They explained exactly why they were raising money and that it was for a specific purpose, and they expressed that very well.”
The club manager said support from the community had pushed the team closer to its fundraising goal, with people donating money on top of their car wash fee.
“We had a specific cost, with small vehicles being $15 and large vehicles being $20, but a lot of the people who participated paid well above that amount,” Sergeant Spence said.
“The support from the community was enormous and they asked if we could have another one, because some people couldn’t get here.”
Sergeant Spence said the club needed to raise about $1,500 for the uniforms.
“It’s a big pride, not just for me, but for my staff as well, because we constantly encourage them about good choices and giving back,” she said.
“We try to instil in the kids the PCYC values of commitment, respect, leadership and passion, and this all goes in well together and they achieved that.”
Two Napranum teams, a boys and a girls team, will be selected this week.
“To be picked for the tournament, there’s three requirements: they must attend school, they must have good behaviour at the club, and they must attend training and fundraising events to be considered,” Sergeant Spence said.
“All of the kids that attended the car wash have consistently done that, so it’s going to be a difficult choice to only select six boys and six girls.
“It’s also only for kids aged between 14 and 17, so having those junior kids involved is really showing them what to do in the future for when it’s their turn to go.”
The car wash provided PCYC Napranum youth leaders with an opportunity to be role models for younger members of the community. Photo: Supplied.
