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Almost half the record number of Avondale College students who volunteered a week of their holidays to serve in local communities have returned this semester.

A team of 22 from the Seventh-day Adventist church on the college's Lake Macquarie campus returned to Coonabarabran in northwest New South Wales, 12 from the college returned to Macquarie Fields in southern Sydney, while 10 returned to Bourke in the Outback.

"You can make a good impact in a week, but when you start coming back, that's when your presence becomes more tangible," says Coonabarabran co-leader Knut Gille.

All three groups participated in various outreach activities such as running children's clubs, renovating a veranda for an elderly couple (Coonabarabran), reviving the local Seventh-day Adventist church (Bourke)?the church has only one member and has been closed for the past three years; the goal is to re-open the church and have at least 12 people attending?and renovating housing commission gardens (Macquarie Fields).

The return of the Bourke team coincided with an Aboriginal cultural event. The team set up a tent at the festival and ran a children's club. "[We] promised we'd go back," says co-leader Miss Goncalves, "[and] the kids were excited to see us." The team members also displayed a glass mosaic they made during their visit in July. The mosaic shows a man carrying a heavy load walking toward a cross, unloading his burden at the foot of the cross and walking away. Miss Goncalves says it proved to be a conversation starter.

The veranda of the couple in Coonabarabran could have collapsed, "and they didn't have the money to fix it," says Mr Knut. Local builder Jonathan Butcher helped the team by providing tools and materials. The team also cleared the couple's backyard, cleaned under their house, mowed their lawn and painted their house.

Miss Goncalves and co-leader Monique Rogers say it is important to return to a local community as it reinforces relationships. They met a man on the team's most recent visit in July who had expressed his desire to stop drinking alcohol and start attending church. "It's amazing how God is slowly breaking down walls," says Miss Rogers.

Macquarie Fields member Jess McNeill agrees. She and other team members speak of a young man whom they met on the weeklong visit in July who is still attending church. "While we were there, it didn't feel like we made an impact, but now we know we have."