On Friday August 12, 2016 St Vincent de Paul Primary School, Strathmore, Melbourne raised money for the Pehuenche people of Chile. The students asked sponsors to donate money for each lap, or to make a straight donation.
The students needed to walk around the school and parish grounds as many times as they could in 40 minutes. As social justice leaders we motivated the walkers to keep going and to go as far as they could.
"Our school decided to raise money in a walkathon to help the people of Chile replant the native forests because they have been chopped down. The Chilean people rely on the trees for traditional food and for their livelihood. They use the wood to make souvenirs and furniture to sell so they can provide for their families".
"The walkathon was successful as we raised $5,797.35 . We felt very proud of each other for raising this amount of money during the walkathon. It was important that we developed awareness in the school community about what the countries have been through around the world and to take action as part of our mission as a Catholic school. We hope that these donations help them with what they are going through".
The St Vincent de Paul Primary School 'Social Justice leaders' are a group of school students who work to promote Social Justice awareness and action within the school.
Read more from The Far East, March 2017