Basketball players from the Sky Sport Tall Ferns and from Long Bay College gave up their Saturday morning to help load a truck of donated school furniture bound for the children of the Pacific Islands on 9 November.
The two teams partnered with Pacific Assist Charitable Trust and Latter-day Saint Charities to deliver upon a request by the Fijian Ministry of Education to help source good quality second-hand school furniture for their classrooms so students could have an environment conducive to learning.
“This project has a two-fold purpose, says Paul Field, Director of Sports at Long Bay College. “It gave us the opportunity to help resource and Island Nation in need but it also gave our female student-athletes the opportunity to do some Charity work alongside the Tall Ferns, which hopefully will give them something to aspire to if they follow through with a sporting career.”
- Tall Ferns and Long Bay basketball teams load chairs into a truck for charity
- Pacific assist furniture for schools
- Tall Ferns and Long Bay Pacific Assist furniture for schools
- Children at schools with donated chairs
- Tall Ferns and Long bay pacific assist furniture for schools
| Temple Square is always beautiful in the springtime. Gardeners work to prepare the ground for General Conference. © 2012 Intellectual Reserve, Inc. All rights reserved. | 1 / 2 |
Long Bay College graciously donated over 250 desks, chairs, and sports equipment to the cause and the girls offered their time to help make this project happen. “It was a great opportunity for us to give back to the Pacific community, from which a lot of our Tall Ferns players have heritage,” says Brooke Blair, Tall Ferns player and member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
This act of charity is reflective of the attitude and character that makes up the students and players of both Long Bay College and the Sky Sport Tall Ferns.
In projects such as this, Pacific Assist arranges for loading and shipping containers to the islands, and Latter-day Saint Charities pays for the shipping.