Raising money for Starship Hospital was more than just a school project for Gore High School’s vocational navigator class.
The students recently hosted a non-uniform day, along with an afternoon sausage sizzle and a basketball tournament.
The fundraiser event was part of their Graeme Dingle Foundation career navigation program.
Student Jacob Sheppard said there was a special reason his class chose the Children’s Hospital as the charity for the project.
“I’ve been to Starship. They pretty much saved my life.”
In his senior year of primary school, he woke up very ill one morning and had to be flown by air ambulance to the Auckland hospital.
“I had streptococcal meningitis and the doctors drilled a hole through my head to release fluid,” he said.
“The doctors said I knocked on the door for death.”
When the class had to choose a charity, Jacob shared his story with his fellow students and they agreed on Starship.
“It kind of gives them back because they’ve done something for me,” he said.
“We want to raise awareness for what they do and help them continue their work by making a donation.”
Starship Foundation head of individual donation Krissy Garnham said she was grateful to Jacob and his class.
“We often feel humbled by stories like those of children’s Jacob and whanau across the country who have a Starship story and want to give back.”
Lydia Martyn, who is in Jacob’s class, said that while there were many charities to choose from, she was happy to support a charity that saved a fellow student’s life.
Two months of planning went into the project, including getting sponsorship from local businesses.
“In career nav, we learned about work attributes like teamwork, communication, planning, thinking skills… so it’s really cool to put them into practice,” Lydia said.
Program coordinator Alan Steele said it helped prepare the students for the future.
It gave them “some really great pillars of success in terms of being able to show their positive attitude, their communication skills and also their resilience to organize such an event involving so many community contacts”.
Those were skills employers were looking for, he said.
He was convinced that the students had exceeded their $600 fundraiser goal.
The money raised would be used to buy coloring books for the hospital, among other things, and an online donation would also be made.
– Michael Curreen