Albies 2019 Charity Fundraiser for WTAW

We took great delight in banking a cheque today for a whopping $35,000from Albies College at University of New England.

Albies make a commitment each year to fundraise for a nominated charity and in 2019 WTAW has benefitted from the great determination, generosity, commitment and motivation they have shown in support of our work. And we are very grateful!!

Co – President of Albies Charity Committee (& Merriwa boy) Jack Inder said the partnership has had a positive impact on the college community.

“It’s influenced what we do and has made everyone realise how big an issue mental health is. Our college leaders do Mental Health First Aid at the start of every year but now we realise that there’s probably more to be done to improve our mental health. This is something you can’t just sweep under the rug, you need to implement things to help wellbeing,” Inder said.

The funds raised have been earmarked for a leadership weekend for 18-25 year olds next year. The benefits of investing in leadership programmes was highlighted by two of our very own student leaders – Alex Bates & Nathan Vanderdonk from St Josephs Aberdeen – who spoke like champions at the Albies Long Lunch on Saturday.

“They were a great example of the positive impact of WTAW and where the money goes, we saw the impact that leadership programmes have had on those two blokes and it was amazing to see how they’ve grown as people.”

The enormity of the students’ fundraising efforts was acknowledged by chairman Jane Callinan.

“This is a particularly big effort from Albies. There’s not a person in their community not impacted by drought at the moment and still they rallied to support our work. The ability of people to maintain their generosity in such tough times is truly inspiring and is greatly appreciated.”