Our programs

Work Skills Traineeships

Running since 2017, this program won Best Community Training Initiative of the Year at the Queensland Training Awards 2018. We will be recruiting soon for a Conservation and Ecosystems Management group starting March 2023 so keep an eye on our website or Facebook for news.

Working with young people

More than 250 young people have taken part in school holiday or creative arts programs, or youth mentoring. This increases positive participation in the community, changing negative profiles, and allows us to link individuals and families to specialist supports.

Containers for Change

We are the CoEx local provider for the 10c container exchange, and run the Container Refund Points on Macleay and Russell as a social enterprise, creating jobs and volunteer work on the islands, whilst facilitating nearly $200,000 in a circular economy.

Conservation Cadetships

People with disabilities from across the islands earn a full award wage on this 20-week cadetship, designing and piloting our eco-tours, whilst also working on essential conservation project. The current round can be seen working in the community, and the next round is due to start work July 2023.

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Creative Arts Program

Our creative arts program work has included a group of young people writing and producing a play about their island experiences, and the Curlew Chaos activity you might have seen at the recent Tide Festival.

The Creative Arts Program at a Circus workshop

Working with young people

School Holiday Programs

*School Holiday Programs are currently on hold*

Every school holidays, we run activities for young people on the islands. In the past these have included The Race Around the Island, Karragarra beach parties, movie and make your own pizza nights, arts and crafts days, and plenty of others.

Keep an eye on our Facebook page or check in to this page for updates.

All activities are free, led by Youth Workers, and designed for young people aged 10 and over.

Creative Arts Program

In 2021 we took our creative arts work to another level, and worked with a group of young people who wrote and produced a play about their experiences on the islands. They were mentored by our in-house Youth Workers, as well as some of the top performing arts talent from across Queensland.

The world-first performances of “The Curlew Wars” took place on February 13th, 2021. To find out about future performances to keep an eye out here or on our Facebook page.

Our young participants also took part in the recent Tide Festival to create something unique. Our Curlew Chaos characters could be seen wandering through crowds on opening night, and during the Karragarra Sea Market.

For upcoming create arts activities, please keep an eye on our Facebook page.

Youth Mentoring

Many of our young people find themselves in situations where they need a bit of support from time to time. In providing meaningful activities for our young people we are able to provide a soft entry for young people to have a positive experience in meeting up with a professional for assistance. Often the first step to accessing support.

It is recognised that there are no funded professional youth support services based on the Southern Moreton Bay Islands to assist our youth. We are keen for this to change for the benefit of our whole community.

For more details please email us.

Kim Richards celebrates the islands’ one millionth container

Containers for Change

Containers for Change is now well established on the Southern Moreton Bay Islands. Refund points are open as follows:

Things you need to know:

  • You must have a scheme ID (which you get from Containers for Change)
  • This allows you to be credited with your refund (we do not process cash)
  • Separate your eligible containers from any rubbish
  • Please remove all lids
  • Sort containers into groups if you can – glass, aluminium, clear plastic, coloured plastic, drinks poppers
  • You CAN crush your cans and plastic bottles as we count containers manually

If you would like to donate your refund to Running Wild, we would be very grateful, and all donations go towards island activities.

Keep up to date on Facebook for all the latest details.