Representatives from 32 primary and secondary schools attended the Encounter Day, including Nagle College Blacktown, St Andrews Primary (Marayong), Cerdon College (Merrylands), and St Thomas Aquinas Primary (Springwood) in the Blue Mountains. A wide range of schools demonstrated that the call to act on faith in order to encounter Christ in the poor transcends all postcodes.

The event was organised as an experience-based component of the Learning Cycles of the Encountering Jesus curriculum in Term 2, allowing students to go outside the classroom and engage with the plight of those suffering from poverty and homelessness firsthand. Since nearly two centuries ago, the Vinnies charity organisation has been a well-known resource to which Australians can turn when they are invited to put their faith into action, and this Encounter Day was a living demonstration of the reason why: a charity rooted in encounters, not just charity at a distance.

The atmosphere for the Encounter Day was set by a keynote speech by Vinnies’ Greater Western Sydney Schools Engagement Officer Roydon Ng entitled “On Fire for Christ – Not Lukewarm”. Using references from Revelation 3:15-16 and 2 Timothy 1:6-7, Mr Ng asked students to reflect on whether they are people who hold onto their faith, or whose faith burns in them, demanding action. The speech combined elements of Catholic Social Teaching, the story of Vinnies client David, and budgeting and housing simulations, each designed to help students transform their reflections into faith into action.

Mr Ng, who belongs to the Membership, Youth and Community Engagement Team of Vinnies that delivered the Encounter Day has reflected on the living manifestation of the Encountering Jesus curriculum on which it is based.

“Encountering Jesus is not a unit that you complete — it is something that should happen to you time and time again, in places you would not expect,” Mr Ng said. “This day, students have encountered Jesus in the story of David and in the heaviness of the budget simulation that doesn't leave much space for spending. This is the whole idea of the Encountering Jesus curriculum — Jesus is not found only in a textbook, but He is found in the person standing in front of you.”

“What struck me most of all was to watch how students made that connection by themselves. There was no need to explain to them that the story of David is an encounter with Christ — they saw it on their own, thanks to the Encountering Jesus curriculum that has given them the ability to understand it. That's students making real theology, not just receiving it.”

“Every single one of these 32 schools has chosen to participate in the Encounter Day — that shows that these students are already living the See-Think-Do framework before we even ask them to. They saw the injustice, thought about it, and by the end of the day, they have already planned how to deal with it.”

The Encounter Day is only one of the multiple entry points into a larger suite of engagement opportunities offered by Vinnies to schools in the region.

Primary students can become members of Mini Vinnies, promoting awareness of social justice issues and performing acts of services within their own school communities as well as supporting Vinnies Services such as through making snackpacks for Vinnies Vans.

Secondary students, on the other hand, can earn the Vinnies Service Medallion, which recognizes their volunteering efforts through various activities, including preparing hampers, fundraising for appeals, working at Vinnies shops, and advocacy.

Young people looking for something more public facing can join in with Busking for Vinnies, performing in town centres in order to raise money and awareness for local conferences; or participate in the Buddies Day program, giving primary school children in difficult circumstances a day full of fun while providing rest to their caregivers.

In addition to schools, Vinnies also has information sessions in youth centres, TAFE campuses, career expos, and university orientation days, and holds active Vinnies Youth Conferences at Campion College and Western Sydney University, demonstrating that the journey started with Encounter Day can last long after the high school years are over.

Looking forward, Mr Ng said that the Encountering Jesus framework does not end after the Encounter Day.

“The Vinnies Winter Appeal is the next encounter waiting for these students. I want them to know — every hamper prepared, every donation collected is Encountering Jesus, but just in a different room. Students do not need us to create the next encounter for them; they are able to create it themselves, in their own schools, this week,” he said.

“For secondary students ready to dig deeper, the Greater Sydney Vinnies Community Sleepout on 28 August at ACU Strathfield is the Encountering Jesus curriculum realised overnight. It is one thing to learn about homelessness in the classroom; it is another to encounter it in your own flesh, lying on cardboard, feeling the cold. The students who will do that will not return the same.”

Mr Ng also had a message to teachers attending the Encounter Day.

“You have witnessed your students meeting Jesus today in ways that no lesson plan can possibly imagine. That's an invitation to you as well — join a Vinnies Conference, sit down with a family who is struggling, and keep meeting Jesus together with the young people you teach, instead of just preparing them to meet Him on their own.”

The Encounter Day ended with the Vincentian blessing by Leo Tucker, Executive Director of Vinnies Mission and Formation Team, emphasising the words of the St Vincent de Paul Society founder Blessed Frederic Ozanam: “Let us do without hesitation whatever good lies at our hands.”