Everyone from the homeless ‘sleeping rough’ to indigenous youth and children suffering from Autism Spectrum Disorder will benefit from the upcoming Bond University open day on July 14.
Bond’s open day attracts families from around Australia annually and this year Bond will use it to assist in fund raising for the multiple charities that the student body and academics provide support for throughout the year.
University Vice- Chancellor and President, Professor Tim Brailsford, said the Bond University community did a lot of work with charities and community causes that went largely un-noticed.
“Our students and academics do a fantastic job across a whole range of areas and our open day is a great opportunity for people to not only see what Bond offers them personally, but what Bond does to make our overall community a better place,” he said.
Each of Bond University’s faculties and institutes will be raising awareness for a charity in which their students, academics and alumni work closely.
An example of this are students in the physiotherapy program in the Faculty of Health Science and Medicine who, as part of their course, have to raise a minimum of $800 for four community non profit organisations.
The students in four separate groups are raising money for Bond Children's Camp, NSW Police Legacy Fund, Headway Inc and Fijian Physiotherapy school. Funds raised will be presented to the organisations prior to the open day.
The University will be handing out information bags to everyone who attends the open day and within the bags will be a ‘Token of Goodwill’.
Attendees will be asked to lodge the tokens with the faculty or charity they have most interest in and at the end of the day the faculties or institutes with the most tokens will be provided with additional funding to use in their chosen charity area.
Professor Brailsford said Bond positions itself around a philosophy of ‘Coming Together and Going Beyond’ and the open day fund and awareness raising initiatives epitomised that ethos.
Some of the Bond charitable initiatives include: -
Humanities and Social Sciences Kununurra Project – The Kununurra Project is a Bond University Student Philanthropy Council program that aims to reconnect indigenous youth by assisting Save The Children with their school holiday program in Kununurra, Western Australia.
Business is all 4 ASD Kids – The Bond Business School supports 4ASD Kids which is a local charity founded by Mat Rogers and Chloe Maxwell. The goal is to assist families’ access early intervention treatment.
Law Supports Voiceless - Voiceless is an independent, not-for-profit think tank focused on raising awareness of animals suffering in factory farming as well as the kangaroo industry in Australia. Their vision is for a world in which animals are treated with respect and compassion.
The Institute of Sustainable Development and Architecture supports indigenous housing through the Yumba Meta Housing Association which provides quality and adequate housing for the disadvantaged at a reasonable rental.
“The list is long and varied and I am proud to say that at Bond, both students and academics, work tirelessly to assist the community,” said Professor Brailsford.