Students and adult volunteers from Sacred Heart College, Sorrento help to pack essential goods for homeless people in Perth. Photo: Supplied.
For Sacred Heart College student Vincent Pettinicchio, reflecting on those who are less fortunate has helped guide him in an initiative to provide essential goods to people living on the streets of Perth.
Vincent’s Project for the Homeless enlists companies such as Kmart, Coles, Brightwater Linen, WH20 Water and Share with Dignity Sanitary Products to provide toiletries and comfort items which are put together in packages by local school students and delivered to the homeless by support organisations.
These include The Shopfront, St Vincent de Paul Society, St Patrick’s Community Support Centre in Fremantle, The Street Doctor and the Salvation Army.
Vincent’s mum, Pina Pettinicchio, said the idea began one weekend four years ago, when after a walk through the city with his grandparents, Vincent decided he wanted to do something to help others.
“So he went to speak with Whitfords Parish Priest Father Joe (Fr Joseph Tran), who said he’d help Vincent find someone to speak to about this,” Mrs Pettinicchio said.
“Then Vincent addressed a group representing St Vincent de Paul Conference at Whitfords, and they got approval for St Vincent de Paul to accept and distribute the packs on Vincent’s behalf.
“After the first year, we asked other charities if they wanted to receive donations and since then some have approached Vincent for help, and they helped pass on the message to other charities.”
Mrs Pettinicchio said Vincent had spoken at his own parish in Whitfords a number of times, as well as having visited Ocean Reef Parish, St Simon Peter Church, Ellenbrook Parish, St Helena of the Holy Cross, North Beach Parish, Our Lady of Grace in North Beach and Iona Presentation College.
The business community had also been encouraged to get involved after Vincent spoke to Wesfarmers last year.
Since 2013, a variety of groups and schools have been involved in the process of pre-packing the goods for delivery or pickup by support organisations.
This year, the ‘packing day’ and ‘delivery day’ were held at Sacred Heart College on Thursday 29 and Friday 30 June, with 169 students and 112 adult volunteers from Sacred Heart, plus 15 students and four staff from Iona Presentation College packing 1,720 bags to be sent to a variety of charities and distributed around the city.
Other members of the community were also involved in the process, with around 400 people helping out on ‘packing day’ alone.
Local schools and organisations provided support throughout the year, including the Rotary Club of Hillarys, Mercyville Aged Care, St Simon Peter Primary School, Prendiville College, Holy Cross College, St Helena of the Holy Cross Primary, Mater Dei College, St John’s Primary, Whitfords Catholic Primary; Padbury Catholic Primary, St Anthony’s Primary, Mullaloo Primary, Joondalup Primary, Ocean Reef Senior High, Our Lady of Good Counsel, Our Lady of Grace, St Kieran’s Primary, and Frances Jordan Primary.
Mrs Pettinicchio said Vincent was hoping to increase the project’s reach, and had been invited to speak at the Rotary District Conference in Margaret River next year.