Thanks to the hard work of two year 7 Balmacewen Intermediate School classes, 237 sets of pyjamas have been donated to charity and will be distributed around Dunedin to those who need them.
For about eight weeks this term, the pupils have been hard at work raising enough money for their ‘‘pyjama project’’.
The goal was to donate as many pairs of pyjamas as possible to the Kindness Collective.
Pupil Freddie Wellington, 11, said they raised the money for the pyjamas by hosting a bake sale, sausage sizzle, pie lunch, raffle and through activities such as dunk the teacher, guess the amount of lollies in a jar and a 5km pyjama run they got $600 in sponsorships for.
The pupils were able to buy 237 sets of pyjamas for children aged 1 to 16.
‘‘We learnt donating and helping others can make you feel real good about yourself,’’ Freddie said.
Their goal was to raise $1500, but they ‘‘smashed it’’ and raised $2700.
Jacob Falcoory, 11, said providing pyjamas was just a small thing they could do to help.
‘‘We learnt to be grateful for what we have, because other people might not have as much as us.
‘‘It taught us to always help others in need, even if it’s just a small thing.’’
The question they were asked for their project-based learning objective was: how does positively contributing to our community also enhance our own sense of wellbeing?
Throughout the term, they found out that by helping others you were also helping yourself, Jacob said.
Once all the money was raised, a small group went to The Warehouse and Kmart to buy the pyjamas.
They were presented to the charity last week.
Balmacewen Intermediate School assistant principal Lisa Dixon said for the year 7 pupils’ project-based learning, they were focusing on health and wellbeing, and giving back to others.
As well as the pyjama donation, other classes had chosen to do ‘‘waste for taste’’, where they took produce that was starting to turn and learnt to pickle it or make chutneys and soups.
They then donated the food to community food hubs and Presbyterian Support Otago for their Sunday lunch.
Another class made and designed products to give to emergency department staff at Dunedin Hospital.
