After seeing the news about Victorian families losing their homes in the recent fires, a pair of young children wanted to help and began a local can collection to do their bit.
Kids of a local Upwey family were touched by recent news of the Victorian bushfires and made a stellar effort in their local arena, raising money for the Fawcett Hall in NSW.
Mum Bec said that her children, aged seven and four, usually collect cans to earn pocket money, but after seeing the recent news, they asked what they could do to help and began collecting for a cause.
“After seeing the news about the families who lost their homes in the fires, my seven-year-old asked, ‘Can we give them our money to build their houses?’” she wrote in a social media post on 11 January.
“I explained that rebuilding costs a lot, but that we could absolutely help in some way. Without missing a beat, he said, ‘What if we give them our can money, would that help?’”
Spreading the news on the local online notice board, the two kids then collected cans from supportive Upwey locals who dropped off bottles and cans to the boys for a donation.
Bec said thanked the locals via social media and said that there was a lot of excitement when they took the cans down to the depot.
“He (her older son) was so excited to take them down to the depot and absolutely blown away when we counted over 1,700 cans raising 170 dollars,” she wrote.
Along with a couple of top-up donations, the small idea turned into a heartwarming donation of 230 dollars for the Fawcett Hall.
“We chose Fawcett Hall, who are supporting the local community of farmers and residents who all live along Spring Creek road and lanes out of Alexandra,” said Bec.
The family itself has connections to the recent fires, and Bec explained that with a visit from a great-grandpa, her kids had seen the devastating news when he was tuning in.
“He watches it every night and actually grew up and owned a large farm in Alexandra, where my Mum grew up,” said Bec.
Bec gave big thanks to the local community for their generosity and said the kids will keep collecting until they are back at school.
Sam, the President of the Fawcett Hall and person in charge of the bushfire recovery efforts out in Fawcett, said in a message to the family online that the kids’ donation brought a heap of smiles to our small but mighty community
“If you are ever up this way, we would be happy to give you a tour, and if Mum allows a ride in a tractor!” he wrote.
“Hugs from us to you.# legend.”
