Visitors open their hearts

By Tania Martin
THE devastation of last month’s fires has touched the heartstrings of some of Emerald’s international visitors.
A group of Japanese students have dug deep to hand over more than $1500 to the fire victims.
This comes as Emerald College students also took to heart the plight of those who lost everything.
The students baked biscuits and ran a number of fund raising events to collect more than $5,000 for the survivors.
Principal Wayne Burgess said the school decided to donate $3000 to the State Schools Relief Committee (SSRC) which assists disadvantaged students at government schools.
Mr Burgess said donating the cash to SSRC guaranteed the funds would go to the students who where affected by the fires.
“It will go towards buying clothes and shoes,” he said.
The remaining $2120 has been donated to the Red Cross Bushfire Relief Fund.
Mr Burgess said the Japanese students arrived several weeks ago and after hearing about the fires donated money out of their own pocket.
“We didn’t ask or suggest. They just heard about the devastation and wanted to help,” he said.