As part of the 2022 Diploma of Community Services course, a group of SuniTAFE students donated essential hygiene packs to the Red Earth Heart van on 23 November.

The Red Earth Heart van, delivered through MASP, is a mobile service which aims to provide food and drinks, hygiene essentials, and clean clothes to people without homes.

Students engaged with the community to collect a range of vital hygiene products, including soaps, toothpaste, deodorant, and insect repellent. The students then used these products to put together several hygiene packs which were donated to the Red Earth Heart van.

The students were enthusiastic to support this cause as part of their studies, perceiving it as a local area of need.

“There’s a bit of a gap in the donations for homeless people at the moment which is why it is important that things like this are done,” Diploma of Community Services student Louise Fell said.

“In Mildura there is quite a large homeless community that we don’t see.”

Through their participation in this project, the students were also able to reflect upon the change they could be a part of by pursuing a career in community services.

“The van kind of opened all of our eyes a little bit because, when you have a house and you have finances and you have stability, you don’t realise that there are so many people that don’t,” Louise said.

“There’s also a desperate need for more workers and more support and we’re all here because we want to help people.”

The Hygiene Pack Project formed part of the assessment for the students enrolled in the unit ‘Implement community development strategies.’ The project relates to key competencies of the unit, such as engaging the community and working as a team.

Interested in a career in community service and enrolling in CHC52015 Diploma of Community Services? Click here for more course information.