Katherine Salvos volunteers brave red dust in show of community spirit
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BY KIRRALEE NICOLLE
Staff and volunteers from Katherine Corps in the Northern Territory recently assisted at the Katherine Show and Rodeo, an annual two-day event and the largest of its kind in the region.
The Salvation Army has been present free of charge at the show for the past few years, offering a Child Finder Wristband ID stall. This year, the show ran from 17-18 July.
“My corps members tell me that since we’ve been operating that service at the show, they haven’t had a lost child,” Katherine Corps Officer Auxiliary-Lieutenant Sandra Mortimer said.
Sandra said this year, the team, which included 15 volunteers, worked full days at the show, starting at 8am both days, finishing at 10pm on the first day and 6pm on the second. She said the team had no items for sale, and as well as offering wristbands for each child with their parents’ number on them, they offered free chilled water and sunscreen and distributed almost 400 Kidzone magazines.
She said many attendees already had other Kidzone magazines, and were looking to add to their collection, and some were travelling from interstate and wanted material to read on the plane.
“The show in Katherine attracts everybody from the pastoralist communities, those who come from Aboriginal homelands around Katherine and people from the town,” she said. “So, it is a wonderful engagement opportunity for the Katherine Salvos to be able to be placed right there at the entry gates offering something for nothing.”
Sandra said the volunteer commitment was never taken for granted, and that she deeply appreciated the efforts of all the volunteers who assisted. She said Rural and Remote Chaplains Majors Niall and Michelle Gibson had a deep connection with many attendees and offered a significant portion of time to the stall over the two days.
On a lighter note, Sandra also said the amount of red Northern Territory dust whipped up by the event was astonishing, and that the following two days were spent cleaning red dirt out of all the merchandise and table covers.
“Who would have thought that a red polyester Salvation Army tablecloth would actually look orange at some stage? That’s pretty striking,” she said.
