On Friday of Week 7, five students from Year 7 Team Riders hosted a drinks stall and six students from Year 12 CGS Squad hosted a bake sale to raise money for the 40 Hour Famine. You are welcome to log on to their links if you would like to support them.

Congratulations to Nithish, Eli, Arav, Levi and Ronit from Year 7 as well as Nathan, Noku, Caitlin, Abbey, Gabby and Zenith from Year 12 for their hard work in preparing and serving at the stalls. Special thanks also to Mrs Dwyer, Naaz (Year 8), Ezri (Year 10) and Emily (Year 11) for their work to support the teams on the stalls.

It is encouraging to see our students engage with global issues. We decided to interview a few of them to find out a bit more about their experience.

Why did you get involved in the 40 Hour Famine?

“I got involved in the 40 Hour Famine because I wanted to help kids in Africa.” Arav

“I saw it as an opportunity to pitch in and help fight an ongoing global crisis. I think it’s a good thing to keep those who are less fortunate than us in our minds.” Noku

“It was a spur of the moment to get involved. It’s a good cause so I thought I may as well!” Nathan

2. What challenge did you do and what was that experience like?

“A challenge for me was riding the 40 km which was fun but extremely difficult. Talking of riding 40 km, I rode that far in the Casey region. It was a fun experience and we had multiple sugar rushes from the candy and sugar crashes — particularly me.” Ronit

“I did 40 hours without social media. At first it was definitely difficult because I didn’t have that procrastination outlet where I could endlessly scroll, but over time it got easier and I could appreciate more of what was going on around me rather than being on my phone.” Noku

“I did 24 hours without food. It was weird — not eating breakfast on a weekend feels wrong! My dad ended up not eating at a café in solidarity with me. At the start I thought it was easy — but by the second evening I realised how difficult it was and I cannot imagine having to do that. It was horrible not to have food.” Nathan

3. What did you do for the stall and what did you enjoy about it?

“At the stall we sold drinks and we donated the profits to the 40 Hour Famine. We had fun hydrating people, (and giving Period 5 teachers headaches from their hyper students).” Ronit

“I baked lemon slices and helped sell them at lunchtime. Selling them and speaking to customers was an amazing experience. Seeing the money grow over lunch was satisfying, and then I knew that the bake sale was worthwhile.” Noku

“We made peppermint slice for the stall. It was cool to see how many people came to buy it and it was interesting to see the perspective on it and the pricing. It made me realise how much baked goods get sold for!” Nathan

4. Why do you think Senior School students should get involved in community activities?

“I think Senior School should get involved to help spread awareness of poverty and hunger.” Ronit

“It was for a good cause and it helps people in need.” Arav

“I think it’s always satisfying to be a helping hand to those in need, and to contribute to your community. Likewise, it’s also good to once in a while be aware of what’s going on around you.” Noku