Diggers Rest Primary School students have donated big to a special cause.
The student leadership team have wrapped up their year-long fundraiser in which they raised money to buy multicultural children’s books for the Joan Kirner Newborn Services at Western Health.
Throughout the school year, the students organised a drive to create Snuggle Hearts for the newborn services, as well as held a Walk for Prems Day to raise money for the cause.
From their fundraising efforts, the student leadership team were able to purchase multiple children’s books in multiple languages including Vietnamese, Burmese, Arabic, Chinese, Hindi, Tamil and Punjabi for families to read to their babies in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU).
On Tuesday 25 November, the student leadership team visited the hospital to hand deliver the new library of books.
Assistant principal Brad Kemp said the students raised over $1600 which went towards the purchase of the books.
“The students were really fortunate. They were able to on a hospital tour around the NICU, which was pretty unique because no visitors are normally admitted to the NICU area of the hospital but because of our engagement with them this year, special permission was granted to actually see newborns that were using the snuggle hearts,” he said.
“They were able to meet a parent who just had twins in the NICU and they were able to observe her reading one of the children’s books in Hindi to her newborns so it was a pretty emotional moment for the students but also the staff of Joan Kirner, you could see a few teary eyes and just their acknowledgement and thanks for the work the student leadership team had put together for them.”
Mr Kemp said the school was proud of the students and the leadership they displayed.
“The development of the student leadership team with their own capabilities throughout the year really highlights the importance of being able to lead themselves but also be able to lead within the community and they’ve developed those skills to prepare them for leadership roles in the future,” he said.
