Students at St Mary MacKillop College have raised more than $9000 for World Vision during their 40hr Famine Backpack Challenge held over the weekend, topping the list of participating WA schools this year.
Seventy-five students from the College signed up online to participate in the challenge, and set to work on their initial $5000 fundraising target.
Year 11 student organiser, Ben Salmond, said it was ‘awesome’ to surpass their goal, “and in such a humungous fashion”. Driven by the announcement that they had made the top ten list of schools in WA, Ben said the students rallied to improve their position in the final week, and came through to finish in top spot for WA. “I’ve never been more proud to be a part of this school”.
The Backpack Challenge was offered by World Vision as part of the 40hr Famine this year in response to the refugee and displaced persons crisis. Participating students committed to living out of their backpack for 40 hours, to understand what it might be like for more than 33 million children globally who have been forced to flee their homes due to conflict, leaving almost everything behind.