After months of work by school students across Australia we have raised $20,000 to build a school library in Siem Reap, Cambodia.
I am over the moon with this result. The Stubbies World Change Challenge was made possible through the generosity of Stubbies Schoolwear, the enthusiasm of super-charity Room to Read and our greatest renewable resource, the power of kid.
A few months ago I made a short video on Room to Read’s Students Helping Students program. We documented a school class raising almost $600 in a single day to buy books for kids in Cambodia. The video threw down the challenge to other classes around the country to do the same.
After seeing the video, Stubbies Schoolwear donated $10,000 toward the building of a library in Cambodia and the bar was raised. We needed to raise another $10,000 to complete the library’s funding.
Dozens of schools got involved raising large and small amounts through Sponsored Silence challenges, Book Swaps and Sponge Throws. Wyvern House at Sydney’s Newington College raised over $3000 toward the cause.
Now I have library hunger and I want to help fund another one. Let me know if you’d like to help!
Super-size thanks to the following for making this amazing collaboration happen: Marie Najjar from Public City for driving the project, Jennie Orchard and Katie Kohlbeck from Room to Read for their dynamism, Josie Mileto at Stubbies Schoolwear/PacBrands for funding the video and part-funding the library, the film’s generous cast and crew, the remarkable Sonia Woods, Chris Hauritz and students at OSPS and, of course, the kids, teachers, librarians, publishers and Twitterers who supported and raised funds.