HOWZIT! My name is Anthony Pulford (alias CHAPPY!)

I commenced my role as Chaplain at the start of the school year taking over from Shane Westra for 2006.

WHY CHAPLAINCY!

There are so many young people out there that are struggling. They don’t want to live. They are in so much pain and are crying out for help. They need guidance and direction in their lives and they don’t know where or who to turn to.

That’s where I come in. As I mentioned above, I recognised that I have a God-given gift of being able to relate well with young people. What better job as Chappy to use this gift. As Chappy, I use this gift to build up trustful relationships with them, become their mate. Once this is established, many of them come and share their stories, their struggles, their joy and their pain with me. As a Chappy, I try my best to give them hope in seemingly hopeless situations. I love them, care for them and listen to them, cry with them, laugh with them and pray for them. As Chappy I try and build them up by encouraging them and telling them how special they are and how valued they are by society.

Then I offer them practical help by either getting them involved in one of our many fantastic programmes in the school, referring them to some of the other incredible members of our support team (for example the guidance officer, nurse, police officer etc..), or linking them up with a government department or outside organisation involved in supporting them.

I love my job. Loving them, Caring for them and showing them how much they are valued is something that I enjoy and that comes naturally to me. There is no greater investment than investing in the lives of people. This is why I am a Chaplain.

ROTRARY LUNCH

The Kawana Waters Rotary Club held the Worlds Longest Lunch to raise money for Chaplaincy. It was a fantastic venue along the Kawana Lake and there were so many fantastic people I met. There were so many VIP’s there and I felt a little out of place as a chaplain. But then I stood up and made a speech about the VIP’s that I work with the ones who are in such pain, who are struggling, the ones

KAWANA FESTIVAL

At the end of last term we held a festival on the secondary campus to celebrate our 20^th year, launching our new school name and to celebrate diversity within our school community a special day of celebration to recognise 20 years of educational service. As part of the celebratory ceremony, Minister Chris Cumminns launched the colleges’ new name. Kawana Waters State College. We had a picnic on the lake and I was responsible for organising games and a concert. The band “JAEL” came and the students had a fantastic time dancing and singing to the great music. We also had different food stalls to promote our diversity as a school and the South African food ended up tasting the nicest.

YR 8 CAMP

What a GREAT time. Camps are always a great opportunity to connect up with the kids and build relationships with them. This one was no exception. We did so many fun activities together such as an 8km hike up a steep mountain, water balloon volleyball, navigation, canoeing and heaps more activities. We also had a fancy dress competition during the night where the students had to use news paper and tape to design themselves

SHAVE FOR A CURE

I was addiment that I was not going to shave my head as I am going on a visit to South Africa to see my family next month and didn’t want to give them a shock. However after visiting Amy, one of the Yr 12’s in our school who has just been diagnosed with Hodgkin’s disease, I realized that it was a very important cause and I needed to get involved. Amy has shown such strength and courage in her fight and against the disease and I thought the least I could to was to try and help raise money to support the Leukaemia Foundation. They have helped Amy and her family so much. It was a fantastic day with everyone turning up at lunchbreak to have their hair sprayed or shaved. We had music, a stage with local hairdressers, a barbie running, coming to do the job. It was great to see everyone getting involved and especially hearing the kids encouraging me to get up there and shave my head with Chants of “CHAPPY, CHAPPY, CHAPPY.” A number of teachers and students took up the challenge and altogether we raised nearly $1500 for a very worthy cause.

ANZAC DAY CEREMONY