By KATRINA BRANDON
GETTING out of the dirt and into chairs, Moe’s Albert Street Primary School completed the first ever Latrobe Valley ‘Wheel-A-Thon’ last Wednesday (June 26).
The event raised money for wheelchairs for kids across the globe.
The fundraising effort was organised by Grade 6 students participating in the Rotary Junior Community Ward program.
“They lead the Rotary junior community ward kids of Albert Street. There are 12 of them this year. They took this project onboard and designed the whole day,” Rotary Club of Moe’s Robin Noakes said.
“There are so many activities to raise funds, all of which are going towards the same project.
“We have got interest in different schools in both the Wheelathon and the Rotary Junior Community Wards. Rotary Junior Community Wards is a worldwide program run by Rotary, which originated in Bairnsdale. It’s another Australian innovation for Grade 6 students to gain confidence and the essence of the broader world before they enter secondary school. It develops their worldliness.”
Taking on the mass project to raise 10 chairs for Wheelchairs For Kids, priced at $275 per chair, the kids joined in a wheelchair race with the local Rotary.
“We have a really good working relationship with the Moe Rotarians, and Lyn Cassar, the president, was implementing this Wheelchairs For Kids charity,” Albert Street Primary School teacher, Bek Harkensee said.
“So, we decided to get on board and see what we could do to help as part of their community service in Rotary. We had a very basic plan at the start. Our goal was to raise $1000.
“We made our own QR codes and have advertising everywhere. The kids walked around Moe and went in (to businesses) and practised asking for donations. If the community can’t donate money, they donate something for the raffle or say they will put our poster in their window, which spurs the kids on.
“After that happened, we were sitting at $700-800, and they wanted to do more.”
Not letting up, the students set up wheelchair races with donated prizes, a ‘beauty bar’ with face painting, hair colour and braiding, and nail polish, a bake sale, barbecue, raffle, and second-hand clothes that other students could buy.
Ms Harkensee told the Express that 80-90 per cent of the products throughout the day were donated by the community or staff members.
“I didn’t expect their motivation to be this high. I find that the more engaged they are with what’s happening, the more they want to learn and be at school, which is my goal for them to be here,” she said.
“It shows the next levels of what they can achieve when they get to Grade 6.”
The students raised close to $4000, enough for 14 chairs.
Each chair will stay with the child in the third-world country from the age of five, right through to 15.
