Readings
NEWS Toorak College- The Herald Sun
17/04/2007
Toorak College year 12 students Lucy Fitchett and Sarah Matters know youth is no barrier to making a difference.
The pair were so fired up when Oak Tree Foundation founder Hugh Evans spoke at their school, they organised a rock concert, Hands Up, which raised more than $10,000 to build a school for impoverished students in East Timor.Evans, the 2003 Young Australian of the Year, created the foundation to help young people make a difference.
Fitchett says: "Hands Up was a lot of work, but we had seen other people do it and we thought, 'Here's our chance'."
Despite working long hours including weekends, Fitchett says a clear sense of purpose kept the pair going.
"It's about the opportunities we have and the opportunities those kids don't. There's a phenomenal difference. It was a lot of our time, but what we can do to help them is just great."
Toorak College deputy principal Jeanne Shaw says the concert was the third fundraising event -- after a dinner dance and fashion show -- inspired by Oak Tree.
"The school now has been moved, I think, by that first encounter with Hugh Evans, who convinced them that kids can do things."
Toorak College is hoping to take part in the interactive Schools 4 Schools program, which aims to establish educational and cultural links between Victorian and South African schools, she says.
Greg Thom
