Clean-up Day, 7 March 2010

JRS got stuck in during Australia's annual Clean Up Day when seven asylum seekers and refugees joined three families from the St Canice's parish and hundreds of other volunteers to clean up around Sydney's Centennial Park. Afterwards they rewarded themselves with a BBQ.

Organiser Pat Munro said that the team should be commended for being part of a 600,000-strong, nationwide event. 'We all really enjoyed the cleanup and meeting new and interesting people,' he said.

21 March: Harmony Day

Harmony Day celebrates the fact that Australia is a multicultural country and promotes the benefits of cultural diversity. Friends of JRS joined refugees and asylum seekers to learn more about one another's culture while enjoying a BBQ, music and entertainment and the approriately-named Peace Park in Elizabeth Bay on Sunday 21 March 2010.

JRS Winter Solstice Ball 2009

Guests at this year's JRS Winter Solstice Ball could hear a pin drop when former refugee and Riverview old boy Kir Deng spoke about 'The Importance of Holding onto Hope':

With profound gratitude let me say how much of an honour it is to be standing before you as Guest Speaker of the JRS Ball. This honour is felt all the more forcibly because I have a friend called Yar, who is a fellow refugee and comes from Kenya. Yar is in fact a recipient of a JRS educational scholarship. Last year money raised from this JRS Ball funded educational scholarships for Kenyan refugees. Quite simply, Yar would not be in Australia, and I would not be friends with her, were it not for the support of the Jesuit Refugee Service.

Past Events