Rising to the Easter challenge
Schools
With the Easter season upon us, one Catholic school community is honouring this significant time on the Christian calendar by helping those in need overseas.
Heeding the call of Australia’s first saint, Mary MacKillop, to ‘never see a need without doing something about it’, students and families of St Mary’s College in the city have raised more than $12,000 through their annual Easter raffle, with proceeds going to support an orphanage in Vietnam and a school in Cambodia.
St Mary’s principal Clare Nocka said this year’s fundraiser was perhaps the most important ever held, given COVID restrictions meant the school community had been unable to provide assistance to the organisations in person, as in previous years.
Clare Nocka
“For some time senior students from St Mary’s have participated in immersion programs that have taken them to work alongside students and teachers in Battambang, Cambodia, and children in the Phu My Orphanage in Saigon. However, these trips had to be cancelled last year and will not take place in 2021 due to the pandemic,” Ms Nocka explained.
“Both these projects are very dear to our heart and so the community was determined that this year’s raffle would be an outstanding success.
“Everyone dug deep and we had hundreds of eggs and Easter items donated, and families then very generously purchased tickets in the raffle.
“Raising this much money will make a huge difference to both projects and really shows our community’s commitment to help those less fortunate.”
Five year old Milana said she was excited to be able to participate for the first time in the St Mary’s Easter raffle tradition. She is one of the small group of Reception students who started their learning journey at the college in January, with more due to start in Term 3.
St Mary’s is one of the many Catholic schools offering a mid-year intake, with Catholic Education SA announcing fees will be waived for Terms 3 and 4 for Reception students who start in July at Diocesan schools.
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