They’re the bare necessities of life that most of us don’t think twice about – but when you’re homeless, a warm bed and toiletries are not easy to come by.
Year 9 students at Point Cook P-9 College have spent the past month helping the homeless through two charity campaigns, Swags for the Homeless and Handbags for Hope.
College captains Riarn and Jemi said students hosted charity dodgeball games, a sausage sizzle and rattled tins to raise money to buy roll-out backpack beds.
The school also accepted toiletry donations.
“We learnt a lot of life skills from this project that could help us later in life, the types of skills and understandings that can’t always be learnt working off a worksheet,” Riarn said.
Jemi added: “We were able to appreciate and enjoy the blessings that came while helping others. We were humbled as we learnt about the people who live in a whole different world to us through presentations from West Welcome Wagon, Salvation Army and Swags for the Homeless.”
Teacher David Simpson said the students raised more than $3200 and collected enough toiletries to fill 78 bags.
“This blew away our expectations and we couldn’t be prouder of our students,” Mr Simpson said.
