Taking fun and fundraising to a whole new level, Notre Dame College MacKillop House students have been busy this year, hosting various activities to raise money for sick and vulnerable children in Greater Shepparton.
From water balloon throwing, mouthwatering cake stalls and the ever-entertaining cream pie challenge, the students of MacKillop House, led by house captains Eliza Bicknell and Arsjola (AJ) Cela, organised the events to raise money for the Child and Adolescent Unit at Goulburn Valley Health.
A total of $2260.46 has been raised, which will fund outdoor seating, play equipment and personal care items for patients at the hospital.
Eliza and AJ said raising money for a local organisation was important.
“We are in that adolescent age bracket, so we thought the students would connect to the children’s ward, which will raise more funds,” AJ said.
“Eliza and I were born and raised in Shepparton, so it’s great knowing we are giving back to the community in every way we can.”
Eliza said they were pleasantly surprised by the positive reaction of the Notre Dame community.
“We started off by doing water balloons to be thrown at our previous Junior Head of House, and we had such a massive crowd,” she said.
“We did it for two days, and it was during the middle of winter, and the crowd was huge.
“We had teachers visit the cake stall every Wednesday, and even if they were getting a coffee, they would say, ‘add on an extra five dollars or ten dollars’, which was amazing.”
MacKillop head of house Gino Saracino said once it was decided that the money was to be donated to GV Health, all students in MacKillop House worked collaboratively to decide on ways to raise funds.
“The house captains decided to go with the local GV Health as they knew it was going to a worthy cause,” Mr Saracino said.
“It is important for the whole house to be involved, as it creates a sense of community, and also the younger kids gain awareness of what it means to give to people who are less fortunate.”
GV Health divisional operations director of women’s, children and surgical units Anna McPhillamy said the patients and staff at GV Health were thankful for the contributions made by the students and wider community.
“I want to say a very big thank you to Notre Dame College and the students for taking the time to raise the funds for the Child and Adolescent Unit,” Ms McPhillamy said.
“It is very much appreciated and will make a difference to many patients and their families — it’s an amazing effort at giving back to the community.”
GV Health nurse unit manager, child and adolescent unit, Paula Holland said donations made by the community lifted the spirits of patients.
“We rely on donations like this to be able to provide those extra things to make patients and their families stay more comfortable,” she said.
“It is fantastic to have a relationship with a local school and work together to improve the experience of our patients on the ward.
“Many students would either have been patients or had family members as patients at GV Health, which makes this personal to them,” she said.