Community & Business
5 November, 2024
Key message at annual Mayoral Prayer Breakfast: Thinking outside the box
The 9th annual Mayoral Prayer Breakfast was held in Pittsworth last Friday with former Top Blokes Foundation employee Colin Ryan encouraging the community to think outside the box in ways to assist and support the vulnerable in our community, particularly boys and young men.
The morning was organised by the Mayoral Prayer Breakfast committee, and the food was cooked and served by Pittsworth Scouts and students from Pittsworth State High School (PSHS).
The Master of Ceremonies for the morning was PSHS Principal Dan Norris, assisted by the Junior Secondary Leaders Tanika Macdonald and Lilly Richter.
Mr Norris welcomed Toowoomba Region Mayor Geoff McDonald and Councillors Edwina Farquhar, Kerry Shine, Trevor Manteufel and Tim McMahon.
The Principal and student leaders from St. Stephen’s Primary School said grace prior to the meal.
After breakfast was served, Principal of Pittsworth State School (PSS) Carol Ann Coonan presented the Welcome to Country.
PSS recently had Indigenous dancers perform a Welcome to Country ceremony for the women, teachers and students at the school, and a video of this performance was played.
Students from PSS sang the National Anthem, followed by a special solo performance of The Fight Song by Creative Generation vocalist and PSS student, Darby Stephens.
Pastor Brett Dolley of the Harvest New Life Church spoke words of encouragement based on Matthew 4:18, in which Jesus calls his first disciples.
“It’s an intriguing thing for these men to be called by Jesus to follow him, when they were actually outcasts in their society,” Pastor Dolley said.
“They were unqualified, they were uneducated, they had no skill sets other than to fish.
“But Jesus saw an opportunity to invest into, and see the potential of these men come to life.
“Mentoring and discipleship is all about getting the best out of other people, trying to lift them up and encourage them,” he said.
“There is someone in your life right now, who needs someone like you, who can invest your life skills, your knowledge, your understanding, and equip them for the journey that lies ahead.
“Let’s not call our young people troubled youth.
“They’re youth that get into trouble, and we all did the same.
“They just need people like you and I that see the potential to create an opportunity for them.
“Let’s see our next generation rise up and be incredible people for our communities and our country,” Pastor Dolley said.
Minister of St. Peter’s Lutheran Church, Pastor Charlie Uebergang, said a prayer for the Mayor, the Councillors, the chaplains, and the Top Blokes Foundation.
The guest speaker for the breakfast was Colin Ryan, a former employee of Top Blokes and current employee of St. Vincent de Paul Society.
Mr Ryan spoke briefly about his upbringing in Toowoomba and his father’s role in the SAS.
“I love coming out to Pittsworth,” he said.
“I worked for Top Blokes for two and a half years, and my role was to set it up in this region.”
“I truly believe that a creative designer created us in his image to be creative,” Mr Ryan said.
“And the seedbed of that creativity is our random thoughts.
“The key to creativity is to think outside the box.”
Here’s a random thought in itself - the Top Blokes Foundation was actually started by a woman.
During her secondary education, Melissa Abu-Gazaleh, noticed there was more mental health support for young girls than for her male peers.
She founded the Top Blokes Foundation in 2006, and now the mentoring program runs in schools all over New South Wales and Queensland.
The foundation’s focus is on transforming the lives of boys and young men through innovative, evidence-based peer mentoring and social education programs.
Throughout his time with Top Blokes, Mr Ryan mentored young males across nearly every state high school, and some Catholic schools, in the Toowoomba region.
“I spent a year in Millmerran,” he said.
“I spent four semesters at Pittsworth State High School, I spent two terms right here at Pittsworth State School.”
Mr Ryan said a major area with which boys and young men are struggling today, is finding identity.
The 16 week Top Blokes program in schools touches on every topic that impacts boys.
“No stone is left unturned,” Mr Ryan said.
“They learn to trust us and see that we have their best interests at heart.
“We talk directly about domestic violence, respect, the impacts of drug and alcohol, the impacts of pornography on a young man, on his brain, and his future relationships,” he said.
“We get to challenge their thinking and speak about positive masculinity.”
Mr Ryan currently works with the homeless in his role at St. Vincent de Paul Society.
“It takes about six different services in order for someone to leave homelessness,” he said.
This year, Mr Ryan had the opportunity to work with Winter Shelter.
Based in Toowoomba, Winter Shelter was an initiative run by volunteers, whereby the homeless would be fed, and have a safe place to sleep out of the cold, in churches, throughout the winter season.
Mr Ryan said when people see a need they bring a creative solution - sometimes in the form of a random thought - to change lives, to change people, and to change communities.
“Allow your random thoughts to make a difference,” he said.
“You can create change now by having a conversation, by taking that random thought and testing it with others.”
Mayor McDonald gave an address and a vote of thanks to the organisers, his fellow Councillors, the Pittsworth Ministers Association, chaplains and the school students and staff present.
“The Prayer Breakfasts are always something that actually gives you that grounding, to know how fortunate we are, to live where we live,” Mr McDonald said.
“To have schools represented, the principals here, the chappies here, the future is here in this room.”
Mayor McDonald thanked Mr Ryan for his message and his encouragement.
The chappies were individually recognised and received acclamation.
“It’s up to each of us to do what we can to support our teachers, our chappies, our principals, to make sure they continue to do the fine work they do,” the Mayor said.
“I’ve listened to many random thoughts of children these days, and there’s good solutions to some of today’s problems.
“To all of you, thank you very much indeed.”
Mayor McDonald closed his address with a quote from Margaret Mead: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; in fact, it’s the only thing that ever has.”
Before the morning ended Mr Norris shared his own experiences with the Top Blokes Foundation.
“In schools, we have a lot of support programs.
“There are very few programs where the students who were involved in it, will come and advocate for a new cohort of people to be involved, and that was my experience at Highfields with Top Blokes,” Mr Norris said.
Money raised benefited the Top Blokes Foundation, Pittsworth and District Chaplaincy, and canteen.
