Fun day helps PNG students

By Bethany Begemann, Matthew Rowbotham, Abbi Longbottom, Caeden Fenech, Bridget Newton and Lincoln Coate, Year 3, Our Lady Help of Christians

MERCY Works is a fun-filled activity held in Catholic Education Week to raise money for the Sisters of Mercy.

All the Year 6 students at Our Lady Help of Christians School fill the oval with activities for the rest of the school to enjoy.

This year it was held after lunch on August 3.

To help tell students what would be happening and get people’s attention there were brightly coloured posters displayed around the school.

The Year 6 students did an amazing job setting up all the activities.

Some of the games were: ball hoop, lucky number, pegging a ball at stumps, Ninja Warrior (an obstacle course), soccer shootout and What’s in the Box?

Tiny Hands was amazingly fun and creative.

You had to hold two plastic hands and catch a ball then you had to chuck it into a bucket. When the students finished their task they would go in a raffle or get a little prize.

Some of the raffle prizes were a whistler rocket, a skateboard, a football and a soccer ball.

Year 6 students used their own money to buy prizes so all the students could have fun and win something.

Another change this year was instead of bringing money and carrying it around to pay for a turn at each game, students made a donation in the morning.

This meant that all the students could participate in the games — but it also meant there were sometimes long queues waiting for a turn.

In total OLHOC collected $1410.10.

All the money raised will be sent to Papua New Guinea to help clever but poor people get the education they deserve.

“Mercy Works was awesome. The games were set up very well,” Patrick Hansen, Year 5, said.

Mercy Works was an opportunity for all the kids from Prep to Year 5 to raise money for PNG and for Year 6 to show their leadership skills.

It has been a tradition at OLHOC for more than 10 years and we hope it will be continued for many years.