Respectful: Lilly Fanning is cleaning graves at Avenel Cemetery as part of a community service project. She says it has been a surprisingly upbeat experience.
Lilly Fanning is a busy girl. As a Year 6 student, she is a school leader. She has a long list of hobbies and interests.
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Lilly signed up to the Rotary Junior Community Award after Rotary New Generations director Fiona McCarthy visited St Mary’s College in Seymour to talk about the awards.
One of the many aspects of the award is community service.
The way Lilly has chosen to volunteer her time is unusual for an 11-year-old.
With Lilly looking for somewhere to complete the community service, her uncle suggested she call the Avenel Cemetery Trust.
Each week Lilly and her kelpie cross border collie, Tadpole, spend an hour cleaning the headstones in the cemetery.
“The trust is also going to be making a website and they have asked us to clean it so as they can take the photos. It’s really cool to be a part of that,” Lilly said.
She has ‘gotten to know’ some interesting residents of the town, sometimes having a chat to whoever’s headstone she is cleaning.
“It is quite fun looking at all the family names, and sometimes there are ones we recognise as we go through,” she said.
“All of the people I haven’t met before, I can learn about their back stories.”
Ned Kelly’s father is laid to rest in the cemetery, making it a tourist attraction.
Lilly is also learning about some of the people after whom streets in the town have been named.
Some visitors leave flowers at graves, others leave beer, she has learnt.
“My grandma is also buried there, and it is really nice to go through and say hello to her,” Lilly said.
Saying hello: Lilly Fanning gets to visit her grandmother’s grave while she is cleaning.
Lilly’s work at the cemetery is just one part of the multidisciplinary award.
The award also includes physical activity, skills building, social and environmental activities and reports.
Lilly has already completed the physical recreation component by playing netball, and the skills building requirement through horse riding and playing piano.
She is currently writing several reports on social experiences and the environment.
On top of this, she is also a member of Avenel Active.
“I love being a part of the community and doing all this stuff,” Lilly said.
“Meeting lots of different people is really fun … I want to do as much as I can.”
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