Buddies Roadshow

I've been thinking about the 'Buddies Roadshow' idea and wondering if it could be extended to include the following situation. We have 3 towns within 60-90 minute's drive of Townsville each of which has a Catholic high school that is involved in Vinnies or could become involved. We could take a group of Buddies Day volunteers from here and get more from the local town, organised through school Vinnies, and put on a Buddies Day in that town for the local kids. These would be one-day trips on an ordinary weekend, or possibly two-day trips to two towns on a weekend. This would open up more possibilities than being limited to school holiday times. It could be used as a catalyst to get Vinnies established in the schools, or to develop further, and give them a core work for their group. Even if they can't get their own ongoing buddies program established, even one or two events each year with outside help would be good for both the young vinnies and the local kids. It would also introduce the local young vinnies to the Townsville group, which would be a good connection for many of them when they leave school and go to uni. A weekend 'roadshow' could also be a good trial run for a longer trip on a school holiday.

That's a great idea Jim. A weekend "roadshow" is a lot more manageable than a week long roadshow and thus should be easier for Buddies leaders to fit in to their lives. I still reckon that heading to the town on the Saturday arvo and training the local volunteers and then running the event on the Sunday (or Friday night training and Saturday event?) is a good structure. And since the towns are not that far from T'ville (by Aussie standards!) it would be possible to offer support for one or two Buddies days per year and thus keep it going.

Would be nice to do a similar thing down here but in 90mins you're still in Brisbane!