Jaida’s joy at students’ charity chain reaction

By Dion Teasdale
A YARRA Junction student has motivated her school to raise more than $1000 for victims of floods and landslides in Central America.
Launching Place resident Jaida Toy, who is in grade six at St Joseph’s School in Yarra Junction, inspired her fellow students by organising a “coin chain” earlier this month.
The school’s 150 students were encouraged to bring coins to class on Friday, 11 November and invited to form coin chains at the front of the school.
Students from each class formed their own chains, placing coins next to one another in a long line. The longest chain, formed by a grade six class, measured more than 34 metres and totalled more than $230.
All up the school’s seven classes raised $1007.10, which will be donated to a mission in San Lucas, a village almost wiped out in the floods that devastated parts of Guatemala in October.
Jaida, who was born in Guatemala and brought to Australia by her adoptive parents when she was two and a half years old, said she was motivated to raise money after seeing images of floods on television.
“Our principal had been talking about making a difference. He said if you want to make changes you have to do it yourself,” she said.
“I am very proud of Guatemala. It is part of me and I was very upset when I saw the suffering going on over there. It was important to me that I do something.”
Jaida said she wrote a letter to her school’s principal, Peter Vanstan, raising the plight of the people in Guatemala and he sent it home asking families to be supportive.
Following this Jaida spoke about the natural disaster that had taken place in her birth country at a school assembly to rally support from her fellow students and the idea for the coin chain came after that.
“The money we have raised will help the people of San Lucas rebuild their mission and help them re-establish their school,” Jaida said.
Her teacher at St Joseph’s, Wendy Searle, said staff and students at the school were very proud of Jaida.
“Jaida has always had a strong social conscience, but motivating a whole school to get involved in raising funds like this is a big deal,” Ms Searle said.
“The money raised is an amazing result. It says a lot about the respect Jaida commands and we are all very proud of her.”