Catholic Diocese of Maitland and Newcastle launches 'Socktober' for Timor-Leste

Catholic school pupils gathered at McDonald Jones Stadium for the launch of "Socktober" to raise money and awareness for children in Timor-Leste.

St Columba's Year 6 student Sarah Mather said her school had made one of dozens of homemade soccer balls for the event, which were stuffed with socks, tied together with rubber bands, and kicked around.

"The significance of the balls are that the children in Timor-Leste make their own soccer balls, so we want to recognise what they do so we can help them as much as we can and make our own," she said.

She said they fell apart a lot quicker than the soccer balls she was used to.

Year 10 St Pius X student Grace Worland said she had loved meeting Sister Carolina, a missionary and nurse in a remote Timor-Leste village, who was a special guest at the Newcastle launch.

"We researched a lot about them and the community and the different types of kids in Timor-Leste ... to help us know more about the subject," she said.

"It feels really good being able to support them, and especially meeting Sister Carolina and hearing her stories, it really helps us support them better."

Catholic Mission's national Socktober campaign lead Matt Poynting said the program allowed students, teachers, family and friends to financially support disadvantaged communities, and raise awareness.

"The purpose ... is to inform, empower, inspire people, the students and teachers, to go out and advocate for the need of people in Timor-Leste, and also what we can do about it as Australians," he said.

Football was chosen as a basis for Socktober because it's a universal game.

"We saw that with the Matildas most recently, everybody around the country got around them and it's a sport more than anything else that brings people together," he said.

"For students in Australia, even though we might look at a child who's in need, who is hungry, or who is living in poverty, and we might think there is very little that we can relate to with that child ... we can look at them and say 'hey I like soccer, I like sport, I like games'.

"Then we expand on that and think if that's what it's like for a soccer ball, what is it like for food, clean water, education, health? It's a way for the children here to make that connection."

Mr Poynting said it was the first time the Newcastle and Maitland diocese had become involved but they were very supportive.

Students can "kick goals" by setting up fundraising pages online.

The Newcastle launch event also marked the start of World Mission Month.

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