St Joseph's Nudgee College

June 19, 2008

Members of St Joseph's Nudgee College's First XV, First XI and several boarders (Yokals) competed against each other in the recent Street Swags Great Winter Roll Up Challenge.

The relay style challenge required the boys to work in pairs to roll 20 swags as fast as they could.

It was extremely close with the Yokals narrowly beating the First XV by rolling their swags in 14 minutes.

Nudgee's Street Swags co-ordinator Brian O'Reilly said while the end product of the Challenge needed some adjustments before they could be shipped, it was a fun activity that helped raise awareness within the student body.

"The night of the Challenge, I was approached by one of the younger boarders, who had been inspired by the Challenge at lunch time," Mr O'Reilly said.

"He asked if he and some mates could roll swags for an hour before their study time. The boys rolled in excess of 140 swags in the hour," he said.

Mr O'Reilly said winter is always the busiest time of year for street swag orders due to the cooler weather but the College was usually able to fill all orders on time due to the wonderful support it receives from the students.

"The numbers of students turning up after school to roll swags has been fantastic. The students have organised groups of students to get involved while members of the boarding houses often spend time at night helping to roll the swags. We are most appreciative of their time and energy," Mr O'Reillysaid.

Several local schools are also keen to be involved with the Street Swags.

St Joseph's Gregory Terrace will distribute the swags as part of their social justice on the streets program while students from Mt Alvernia this week delivered care packages they prepared to put into the swags.

In recent weeks, the College has delivered over 700 swags to various locations throughout the country.

"A couple of weeks ago we delivered 600 swags to Linfox Transport at Acacia Ridge to go to Sydney. This consignment was sponsored by the Swans AFL club and some of their players will assist with distribution," Mr O'Reilly said.