She’s the pint-sized baker rising to the challenge of helping kids living with disadvantage in Melbourne’s northwest.
At the age of nine, Keiosha, has set a goal to raise money for The Smith Family.
With a little help from some of her teachers, Keiosha has baked and sold more than 400 cupcakes – raising $353 along the way.
It’s a massive achievement for the Broadmeadows pupils , who said she “wanted to do something to help kids like her get readjusted to school life”, after two years of home learning.
“It started out as a project I was working on with my teacher. I’ve been learning a lot about who The Smith Family is and how they help kids,” she said.
“There are lots of kids (at school) who get help from The Smith Family, so it was good to do something that helps them.”
Across Victoria, The Smith Family works with 28,948 children across our 117 partner schools and supports nearly 14,000 students on its Learning for Life program.
The Smith Family victorian general manager Anton Leschen said he was overwhelmed by the support the organisation receives from everyday people – particularly from some of the
smallest members of the community.
“Kids have the biggest hearts. The generosity shown to us by people from all walks of life, especially in someone as young as Keiosha is truly humbling,” Mr Leschen said.
“A simple act of kindness can go such a long way, and to see this resonate in children really affirms for us the work we do at The Smith Family for children in need.”
“We know the past two years have been incredibly difficult for a lot of Victorian families, especially those who were already dealing with financial disadvantage before the pandemic.
Their resilience in the face of massive uncertainty has been nothing short of inspiring.
For Keiosha, the experience is helping reconnect her back to school life. She thinks many kids have had a hard time coming back to school but says with every day she’s growing more comfortable and confident about being back in the classroom.
“Learning about The Smith Family and raising money for other kids has made coming back to school a lot of fun. I’m really enjoying my reading and writing again … I have more confidence with my spelling and math that I can do it on my own,” she said.
“But mostly I really like being able to see my friends again.”
