ST Stephen’s School, Algester, is raising funds to help scavenger families who live and work on one of the main rubbish dumps in the Philippines capital.
Funds raised will go to the Faithful Companions of Jesus (FCJ) Centre in Manila. The centre works with the scavenger families in the city.
St Stephen’s teacher Stephen Jones and his wife Leilani visited the centre and the dump when they went to Manila for the World Meeting of Families in 2003.
They were part of a pilgrimage group from Australia and were representing the Archdiocese of Brisbane.
Bishop Eugene Hurley of Port Pirie took people who were interested to have a look at the FCJ Centre and to get a glimpse of life on the dump.
Mr Jones said every year the school raised funds for a particular project.
Last year the school raised more than $4000 for Rosies Youth Mission with principal Steve Taylor walking 800km through south-east Queensland to raise awareness of Rosies.
Mr Jones said the $4000 raised was an amazing effort for a school of less than 200 students.
“This year, through my suggestion, the school has been raising funds for the FCJ Centre in Manila,” he said.
“Not only have we been raising money for the centre throughout the year, the teachers have been incorporating the mission project into their curriculum through a ‘Toy Making’ unit.
“The Toy Making unit raises awareness of our mission project, as well as building an awareness within the students that toys are an expression of our creativity which provide enjoyment during leisure time.
“The students were asked to produce a toy based on recycled materials which they might find on a dump site.
“Once this was completed, they were then asked to create an ad for their toy.”
Mr Jones said while working on the unit, it became clear that many of the students had many toys that they rarely used.
“With this in mind I came up with the idea of having a charity toy sale which would raise funds for the families living on the dump site in the Philippines,” he said.
“Families from the school have been asked to donate any good quality toys that their children never play with to the school, so that they can be resold.
“All money raised goes to help the families on the dump site in the Philippines.”
The toy sale will be held on November 8 from 3pm-7pm at the school.
Mr Jones said 60 toys had been donated so far and he hoped to double the amount by the time the toy sale was held.
For more information phone the school on (07) 3711 4911.
