Be prepared to help

By Caitlin Bewley
(3rd Yr Swinburne Uni)

An idea derived by children will come to life at Ballan’s upcoming Autumn Festival, with all donations going to an organisation in Ballarat.
The Ballan 1st Scouts have chosen to sell their pre-loved toys in order to support a camp for the Kids in Dangerous Situations (KIDS) organisation.
To do this, the group have booked a stall at this year’s Ballan Autumn Festival (BAF), selling toys that have either come from the scout’s homes or have been donated.
After writing letters and sending them to local businesses in Ballan, the scouting group have raised just over $1,700, well on their way to their $5,000 goal.
Scout Leader Tony Bellette told the Moorabool News that KIDS was chosen after a camp was held in October last year, leading scout members to choose the foundation to raise money for.
“Once a term we sit down and ask [the scouts] what they want to achieve in the next term,” Mr Bellette said. “We then go through the list of what’s realistic and what’s not,” he said.
“The kids had multiple ideas on how they wanted to raise money, but they just kept going back to BAF and selling their old toys.
Mr Bellette said the scouts enjoy going on camps and wanted to raise money for other kids to have fun and go on a camp.
The Ballan 1st Scouts set their sights high with how much money they thought they might raise, Mr Bellette saying he soon brought them back to reality.
“They said amounts like one million dollars and $100,000,” Mr Bellette said. “But we thought $5,000 would be a good challenge for us.
“If anyone is happy to give us a million dollars that would be great,” Mr Bellette laughed.
“This type of fundraising really opens the kids’ eyes to the opportunities they’ve been given and makes them want to give back to others,” Mr Bellette continued.
“It’s really showing them that things don’t always go so well in life, sometimes kids struggle and it’s not only adults, kids do need some help sometimes too.”
The Ballan 1st Scouts will be selling pre-loved toys at the Ballan Autumn Festival, held on Sunday March 15.