Community effort helps kids connect at school

The Rotary Club of Morley has teamed up with the Bassendean Community Men’s Shed and Midalia Steel’s Welshpool branch on a program to install Buddy Benches for students at local primary schools.

The benches, which are used by primary schools both domestically and overseas, are designed to provide a safe place for a student to sit and alert other students or teachers they are not feeling comfortable.

The Rotary Club of Morley has facilitated the program, while the members of Bassendean Community Men’s Shed have constructed the benches and Midalia Steel, which is a brand of integrated steel manufacturer, InfraBuild, has donated the steel for the benches.

So far benches have been installed at seven schools with more to be rolled out within the Morley Club’s footprint in the coming months.

The Rotary Club of Morley’s Buddy Bench Project Co-ordinator Ahmed Siddique said the project had been made possible through the support of the project’s sponsors.

“We are incredibly grateful to Nigel from Midalia Steel for his enthusiastic backing of this worthy community initiative and Allan Wilson from the Bassendean Community Men’s Shed, who has been the team leader with construction and installation of the benches in record time,” Mr Siddique said.

“All recipient schools have welcomed and been delighted with their Buddy Benches.”

Midalia Steel Welshpool’s Nigel Larkman said the branch had now provided steel to two Rotary Clubs both North and South of the river who had implemented the program at schools within their district.

“This was a great opportunity for us to work with groups like Rotary and the Men’s Shed to be part of an initiative designed to help young people in our community,” Mr Larkman said.

“We are proud to be part of this initiative and look forward to continuing to work with community groups in the local area.”