Each year, Melbourne schools help to raise millions of dollars for those in need, locally and internationally.
Fund-raising is a large part of schools’ social justice programs.
Money raised goes to causes that include cancer awareness and research charities, The Salvation Army, World Vision, Caritas and even other schools in Australia and overseas.
While many fund-raisers are one-offs, some school programs have a long history.
This includes the Maytime Fair that Xavier College, a Catholic Jesuit school, has held annually for 64 years.
The school has raised millions of dollars for the Jesuit mission, which helps refugees, students and communities in developing countries, including East Timor and India, as well as other Asian and African nations.
Projects include improving the educational outcomes for students in these countries, offering pastoral care and advocacy for refugees, as well as medical care and social services.
St Monica’s College also has a long-running fund-raiser. For more than 30 years staff have helped to raise money for the Presentation Sisters in Pakistan.
The sisters run convent schools across Pakistan that provide education for poor children. Money raised by St Monica’s has helped villages in the southern Sindh region of Pakistan, especially after a 2006 flood ravaged the area.
Money was also used to buy a solar water purifier for the Francis Nagar village in the same region, ensuring residents have access to clean drinking water.
Kilvington Grammar School is a Baptist school whose houses each have a nominated charity to raise money for.
Every term, one of the houses – Fysh, Barrett, Fethers and Burman – runs a series of fund-raising programs.
Local charities, including CanTeen and Very Special Kids, benefit from the students’ generosity.
Kilvington is also involved in Operation Christmas Child run by Samaritan’s Purse. It is an annual program in which children raise money and donate toys for other children overseas.
Haileybury has also taken part in this program, sending more than 500 shoeboxes of toys to children in need in the past six years.
Haileybury marketing director Sarah Bryant says the school donates useful gifts to children overseas, some of whom might never have been given a gift before.
“The boxes are sent to needy children in South-East Asia, the Pacific and Papua New Guinea,” Sarah says.
Haileybury students also support The School of St Jude in Tanzania. Senior students from Castlefield House raise money for projects at the school.
“The School of St Jude provides free, quality education to some of Tanzania’s poorest children,” Sarah says. “Every year, the boys fund one teacher and two students to attend and work at the school. Each year they can raise between $2000 to $3000 and in 2016 they have set their target at $5000.”
This type of fund-raising gives students the chance to see how they are changing the lives of children overseas.
“The Castlefield boys receive letters from the students that they support, which take pride of place within the House Room,” Sarah says.
“The boys were also able to watch online as the first batch of year 12 students graduated in 2015 – it was a very special moment.”
