Common cents prevails

The families and community of Holy Name Primary, Forster, offered wonderful support to the school’s “5c Friday” and “beeswax wrap” initiatives in Term 3. Parish priest Fr Greg Barker shared the fundraising duties and received much donated spare change as well.  

The efforts raised a grand total of more than $800 in six weeks of which $200 was donated to each of the following charities. 

The Ruben Centre is a non-profit, faith-based organisation striving for an empowered and just Mukuru community in Kenya. The centre provides quality education, health, financial and social services to children and families in one of the largest slums in Nairobi. It is one of eight Christian Brothers project sites across Africa that offer community development programs.  

The Wilai Foundation seeks to raise awareness of statelessness and offer support to orphaned girls in Thailand and Myanmar. Wilai – a Thai name meaning “perfectly beautiful” – was a young orphan and stateless girl living in Thailand who inspired the establishment of the foundation. 

Umbrella Hearts originated from a trip to The Philippines to work with carers and teachers in an orphanage helping traumatised children who had been abandoned and involved in child trafficking before being rescued from the streets. Having considerable experience in child welfare in Australia, the organisationfounder recognised the message is the same around the world and launched the Umbrella Hearts Ribbon campaign in Australia and The Philippines.  

Lavalla is the only registered primary school in Cambodia for students with a physical disability. Founded in 1998 in a small house in Phnom Penh, in 2004 it moved to a purpose-built school in Takhmao, a city on the edge of the capitalThe school was financed by many generous Australian donors and the original Marists were Australian Brothers Terry Heinrich and Daryl Slater. Today the school has 86 students, and most are residential because their families recognise the lack of access to education in rural regionsEven in 2018 some entering Year 1 primary are 16 years old. The education program provides an accelerated curriculum of six years primary being completed in three years. 

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