SchoolAid Trust • PO Box 1526 North Sydney NSW 2059 • +61 2 8904 0566 • 0404 159 763 • www.schoolaid.org.au
Wednesday 20 January 2010
MEDIA RELEASE – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
SchoolAid founder Sean Gordon urges Australian schools to take action
to support the children of Haiti
SCHOOLAID has launched an appeal to its community of schools across Australia in response to the
tragic disaster in Haiti and urges teachers, students and parents to demonstrate their support when
school resumes next week.
“SchoolAid joins with the rest of the world in expressing our horror at the recent disaster in Haiti,”
says SchoolAid founder and former school principal, Sean Gordon.
“Children are often the most vulnerable in disasters like this, with families, homes, schools and
communities torn apart. The most important step is to restore children’s lives to some sort of routine
as soon as possible. This is most often in the form of returning them to school.
“SchoolAid has teamed up with Save the Children and Plan
International, established aid
organisations in Haiti, to present a united force to address the immediate and short term needs
of
the country’s children.”
Plan and Save the Children already have teams on the ground in Haiti and are sharing regular
progress reports on the situation and aid efforts. SchoolAid will work with these organisations to
develop programs to guarantee the rights of the children of Haiti, with an emphasis on water and
sanitation, health, education, shelter and child protection.
“Given SchoolAid’s successful programs in Banda Aceh, Samoa and the Victorian Bushfires, schools
can be confident that funds raised will directly help kids impacted by this tragedy,” Mr Gordon said.
Since SchoolAid’s
inception
in 1999, more than
$2.5million
has been raised by 200,000 school
students across Australia. The organisation’s significant achievements include:
Following the Indian Ocean tsunami of 2005, SchoolAid raised more than
$250,000, and in
partnership with Plan, rebuilt an entire school in Banda Aceh. The school includes a garden
where children grow vegetables and learn about health and nutrition, as well as a child club,
where children learn about their rights and responsibilities in their community.
In the aftermath of the 2009 Victorian Bushfires, over 700 participating schools raised more than
$860,000 through SchoolAid – our most successful appeal yet.
These funds were distributed to
25 individual schools in the form of grants to help rebuild the school communities. SchoolAid also
provided significant grants to the Australian Children’s Music Foundation and the Foundation for
Rural and Regional Renewal to implement projects to assist in re-building the lives of children
and education in bushfire affected areas.
SchoolAid Trust • PO Box 1526 North Sydney NSW 2059 • +61 2 8904 0566 • 0404 159 763 • www.schoolaid.org.au
“Australian school children will certainly be aware of the mounting death toll in Haiti
and may feel
distressed and helpless at the scale of this disaster,” said Mr Gordon.
“Thanks to our strong relationships with teachers and principals throughout Australia, SchoolAid is in
a unique position to empower school children to turn their compassion
into action by supporting
them to raise funds, send messages of hope and to share in the rebuilding efforts.
“I urge teachers, students and parents to visit www.schoolaid.org.au to find out more about our Haiti
Earthquake Emergency Appeal and how to take action and raise vital funds to help children affected
by this catastrophe.”
SchoolAid is a non-profit organisation which provides resources to principals and teachers to support
them in creating philanthropic, caring students. SchoolAid believes that children have an innate
sense of compassion and empathy, particularly for other children, and we provide children with the
means to engage with children around the world –
kids helping kids –
and turn their fundraising
efforts into genuine, engaged philanthropy.
SchoolAid founder Sean Gordon is available for interviews.
Attached image courtesy of Save the Children.
For further information, please contact:
Jessica Barr
Campaign Manager
SchoolAid Australia
02 8904 0566
0404 159 763
jess@schoolaid.org.au
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