The Seventh Day Adventist church group had 18 members this year and travelled about 680 kilometres to the area for the 12th year running to co-operate with other churches in the community.

Manager Chris Martin says the week-long activities are always an exciting experience for team members who he says walk away with leadership skills and as more confident individuals passionate about serving others.

STORM performed two backyard blitzes for locals during their five-day stay as well as conducting a kids’ club. They also made time to walk the streets while dressed as clowns.

“We work with all churches and as Christians we work better together which is why we concentrate on our similarities rather then our differences so that we can make a bigger impact on the community” says Martin.

“Last year we did some work on the Catholic Church in town which included repainting doors with plenty of varnish and repainting the sign at the front.”

The team has also undertaken the task of cleaning the cemetery grounds and painting the bridges on the grandstand at Spider Brown Oval as well as painting a Vietnam War veterans house in previous years.

Mr Martin says the group follows five principles: no agenda, no walls, no expectations, no limits and no fear.

“We don’t come in with an agenda we simply arrive in the community and ask what they have for us to do.”

“We have no expectations of being reimbursed for any of our activities and we don’t like to build barriers between people, races, or religions”

“There are no boundaries on what we can do so we try and come back to the same community at the same time each year but we never make promises as we don’t know where we’ll be in 12 months.

“Being Christians we keep God at the centre of our plans and we try not to worry about the weather and other things which might get in the way”.