News

Powerful donation supports Mallee youth

Tue, 18 Jul 2017 05:37:00

Some lateral thinking around the decommissioning of a Mallee powerline will help get innovative new youth mental health initiatives off the ground at headspace Mildura.

When Powercor’s Mildura, Ouyen and Horsham staff were called in to remove a large section of industrial line near Ouyen, instead of producing waste materials, they combined forces and volunteered their time for community good.
The result was donations to community organisations across the region, including $17,500 to headspace Mildura.
Powercor Mildura Field Leader Aaron Hughes said the idea to use the decommissioning of a powerline as a charity project came from a local staff member.
“The line was constructed in 2011 to power Iluka’s Kulwin mine and had only a five-year lifespan, which was the expected life of the mine,” Mr Hughes said.
“There was about 40 kilometres of conductor wire to take down and because it was premium quality aluminium our Construction Project Leader Robert Sloper identified the potential to sell it off for recycling,” he said.
About 15 depot staff from Mildura, Ouyen and Horsham volunteered their time and local businesses and community members got on board to help take down the line and wind it up by hand.
The aluminium conductor was sold to a metal merchant and is suitable to be re-smelted into items ranging from fridges and microwaves to medical equipment. 
The sale raised $76,000 – $35,000 of which was contributed to the Ouyen recreational lake project for a kiosk and picnic area, and $17,500 to headspace Mildura and the remainder for projects in the Horsham area.
Mildura headspace clinician Hannah Cairns said the contribution to the youth organisation was a great community gesture.
“The money will go towards helping us raise awareness and reach more young people through some innovative community engagement projects, including a regional cricket round over the summer,” Ms Cairns said.
“But we’re also excited that we’ll be able to get another important program off the ground that’s been in the planning stages for a while, which is a youth-led community awareness initiative about connecting with friends and family,” she said.
Some of the money will also go to supporting headspace Mildura’s ground-breaking magazine Bold, which involves youth in producing a high-quality magazine featuring the ideas, stories, issues and art of local young people.

Pictured: Robert Sloper, Hannah Cairns and Bridgette Stephenson from headspace and Aaron Hughes from Powercor, with a roll of the conductor wire.