A special ceremony was held in Canberra today to honour the capital’s budding philanthropists.

More than 100 students from 16 ACT primary schools received citizenship awards from The Fred Hollows Foundation for lending a hand to fellow students or supporting their local communities or projects overseas.

“Fred used to say that the greatest attribute of human kind was our ability to help one another. The Fred Hollows Schools Award recognises students in the ACT who have reflected these values in their own lives,” said Gabi Hollows.

Now in its second year, entries included a Year 5 student from Bonython Primary School who ran a fundraiser for the family of a classmate with leukaemia. A Year 3 student from Canberra Girls’ Grammar School collected swimming caps and goggles to help children in Colombia. A Year 6 student from Weetangera Primary School designed wearable art for the Yirri Dancers, the school’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander dance group. 

“Young people can and should be the ones driving our future,” said Gabi, who presented the citations. “Young people have a capacity to care for others and a capacity to ‘dream big’ that the rest of us envy.”

The ACT Minister for Education and Training, Joy Burch MLA, presented plaques to the schools involved.

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