By VICTORIA STONE-MEADOWS
STUDENTS from Mount Lilydale Mercy College have been working with the Mount Evelyn Men’s Shed where they designed and constructed puppets for the Mount Evelyn Toy Library.
The Year 11 Victorian Certificate of Applied Learning students have been working with the Men’s Shed as part of their Responsible Community Challenge (RRC).
The objective of the RCC program is to build community partnerships between Mount Lilydale Mercy college and community organisations.
The program also provides learning experiences and new skills to students so they can contribute to their local community through participation and support of local community groups.
The students presented the Mount Evelyn Toy Library with a children’s puppet theatre and wooden puppets at the conclusion of the program on Tuesday 15 September.
The students spent a total of five weeks designing and constructing the puppet theatre with mentorship from of the Morrison Men’s Shed.
Naomi Jones and Annette Hale of the Mount Evelyn Toy Library said they are very pleased to receive the donation of the puppet theatre.
“It’s going to be a great asset for a long time and many generations to come,” Ms Jones said.
“We don’t have the resources to purchase something like this so it’s really good to have these two groups make it for us.”
“We are a volunteer organisation so we depend of donations,” Ms Hale said.
“This means we have one less thing we need to beg for funding to get and it will make the library more fun and exciting for kids to come visit.”
Jack Kleynjan of the Men’s Shed said everyone had a really good time working with the students and they were glad they could pass on their knowledge.
“They’ve been really good and we taught them different ways of doing things,” he said.
“We’ve passed on our skills and tricks to a new generation.”
Billanook Ward Councillor and Yarra Ranges Mayor Maria McCarthy also attended the event and said how proud she was of the students’ work.
“I’m very pleased organisations can network like this to create opportunities for each other,” she said.
“I’m very happy as ward councillor that groups in this area have the initiative to do things like this where everyone gets a chance to share skills and foster education.”
