Beanies out for FightMND: Goulburn Valley Grammar SRC prefects Chloe Charnstrom and Sam Brown lead the charge against Motor Neurone Disease.
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Goulburn Valley Grammar School students have come out in force for Motor Neurone Disease research, wearing the iconic blue FightMND beanies and raising $847 for the cause.
SRC prefects Chloe Charnstrom and Sam Brown led the fundraising effort last Friday for FightMND – a charity that funds research for a group of diseases where nerve cells controlling muscles gradually weaken and die.
The prefects thought the condition, which has no effective treatment or cure, would be a uniting cause for the school to get behind after weeks of home isolation.
“A lot of people are directly affected by it, including grandparents and parents of students at school,” Chloe said.
“And (FightMND) is probably one of the most well-known charities out there,” Sam said.
“There’s already the culture of having the beanie, so people could go out there and buy the beanie, or wear one from previous years.”
However, the SRC team was faced with a challenge.
They were not able to collect the usual gold coin donation because of COVID-19 transmission fears.
Instead, the students came up with the idea to develop an online platform where students and parents could donate safely, in collaboration with the school’s IT department.
“It was based on the (online) canteen system,” Chloe said.
“And it also meant that parents could give more to the cause,” Sam said.
The routine cake stall was also off the cards, so the leaders decided to run a quiz instead to raise awareness for the condition, which affects an estimated one in 350 men and one in 400 women.
“We felt like we raised some good conversation,” Sam said.
