Thousands raised to support students

IN late May, the Bendigo Evening VIEW Club held a special afternoon tea, raising thousands to support disadvantaged children.

The VIEW club, which stand for voice, interests, education, and women, is the women’s movement within the Smith Family charity.

The Bendigo club supports 15 children locally, with money raised pay for uniforms, excursions and other extra-curricular activities and programs.

Fundraising coordinator Cheryl Scully said although the event had been previously cancelled three times, it was a great success.

“Two weeks before the event we only had about 60 people say they would come, and we thought that’s not enough with about 80 auction items and a big raffle, but word spread,” she said.

“It started at 2pm and when I turned around there were people streaming through the door like it was the Myer stocktake sale, it was wonderful. It turned out to be a huge success and we’re very happy with it.”

The afternoon tea featured a 20-prize raffle and silent auction with over 80 items, and just under $6000 was raised.

Ms Scully said the annual cost of sponsoring 15 students in the Smith Family’s learning for life program is $11,000.

“It was a lot of work, but it was rewarding and very satisfying for the members to get that sort of result,” Ms Scully said.

“It goes a huge way to our annual cost of supporting these students, this is one of the biggest functions we’ve organised as an individual club.”

Additional money funds other Smith Family programs, such as the Student2Student peer support program which pairs a primary school student with a high school mentor to help with reading.

Just over 120 people attended the afternoon tea, with 45 businesses offering their support.