Sydney students are lifting community spirits

By Georgia Tacey

Jul 5, 2023

University of Technology Sydney students were in Mooroopna this week to lend a helping hand.

Hold tight - we’re checking permissions before loading more content

UTS volunteering organisation The Big Lift takes an annual winter trip around the eastern states to help out regional towns and communities.

The group takes 80 students across regional Australia, this year focusing on NSW and Victoria. The students arrived in Mooroopna on the night of Monday, July 3, eager to get started and help the next morning.

Students tackled all different areas in Mooroopna, helping out at the Mooroopna Museum, the Royal Mail hotel, The Uniting Church, 54 Reasons Kindergarten as well as private residences, and did a range of tasks, from helping clean flood-damaged property to gardening activities, to help out where needed.

President Isabelle Goodenough joined the group in 2019, in her first year of university, and 2023 marks her third winter trip. She says the reason she joined was her love of volunteering and helping people out.

“We wanted a town somewhere near Shepparton, as we thought that’s a good place to stop,” she said.

“Mooroopna reached out and (we) got in touch with the lovely Barb (Joyce), and they were very passionate about having us come.”

Helping hand: Former Mooroopna Rotary Club president Barb Joyce with Annabelle Sghabi, who both helped bring the group to Mooroopna. Photo by Georgia Tacey

Crew leader Annabelle Sghabi helped to organise the stop in Mooroopna, as the group wanted to stop in the Shepparton region to help out after the floods last year.

“We decided to come to Mooroopna because I had seen that you guys had been flood-affected and we were looking for a place to help out and pay it forward,” she said.

“I thought there was something special about Mooroopna and we really needed to help out.”

So far, the group has collectively visited five towns in NSW and Victoria on its 2023 trip, with four more to go. Next up, one bus is headed to Euroa, while the other is going to Eildon.