JESSE NEILL
A STUDENT from Trinity College has raised over $4000 for the school’s annual service trip to Cambodia.
Year 10 student Abbey Martini left for Cambodia on Saturday with 19 other year 10 and 11 students from Trinity College as part of the school’s three-week mission trip.
Students will work with a range of charities to help those less fortunate, while also gaining a different perspective and understanding of the world compared to their relatively comfortable lives back in Australia.
“I wanted to go mainly because I wanted to help people, I wanted to see different parts of the world and learn how different people live,” Abbey said.
“I want to help the children over there doing it tough because they don’t have as much as we have and I want to change that.”
Open to all year 10 and 11 students from Trinity College, the Trinity2Cambodia Service Trip provides students with an opportunity to support those less fortunate in an ongoing and sustainable
way, while also engaging in cultural exchange.
Each student is expected to raise $1000 to provide essential funding to the charities Trinity is partnered with in Cambodia.
Abbey’s mum, Rachael, said her daughter quickly exceeded this mark thanks to her driven fundraising efforts and said she couldn’t be prouder of her daughter.
“She’s embraced it and done something way outside of her comfort zone and she’s tried her best, so I can’t wait to hear how it goes,” Mrs Martini said.
“She’s also happy for her extra funds to help those students that have had a hard time raising money – so of course I’m really proud of her.”
Abbey organised a range of creative ways to help raise funds including selling unused clothing online, crafting jewellery and concrete pots, making ‘loose change’ tins for workplaces, creating a ‘go
fund me’ page, and sharing a letter with her personal mission statement to local businesses.
Abbey thanked her parents and the local community for their support and will return to Australia later this month.
She hopes to write a story about her trip and collate photos to show how the money she raised helped the lives of those less fortunate.