East Kalgoorlie PS students fundraise for animal rescue and rehoming in the Goldfields

Young students at East Kalgoorlie Primary School were treated to a visit from Derek, a Saving Animals From Euthanasia Goldfields’ boxer, after raising $530 for the volunteer-based organisation.

Year 2 and 3 students presented a handmade cheque to SAFE Goldfields branch co-ordinator Justine Warren on Tuesday morning following their fundraising efforts selling baked goods and lunches at the school.

Teacher Sabrina Guilbert said the idea for the fundraiser was sparked following lessons on the importance of volunteering and community groups which formed part of the national curriculum.

She said students helped cook pancakes, cupcakes and host sausage sizzles for fellow students while also creating posters and social media posts to promote the fundraiser.

“This term we’ve been learning about volunteering and community groups and then we looked into a few of them around town and they chose SAFE Goldfields to fundraise for,” she said.

“We covered all the different ways that you can volunteer and then we decided to do the fundraiser for the whole week which was our choice.”

Ms Warren visited the school on Tuesday morning to speak with students about the role of the organisation and the importance of community volunteering.

She said students should be “very proud of themselves” for their fundraising efforts which would help the charity to continue animal rescue and rehoming operations.

Ms Warren said SAFE Goldfields had seen a rise in the number of surrendered animals because of cost-of-living pressures on Goldfields residents.

“Food for animals alone has gone up quite significantly and it’s not just the expensive brands, it’s also the normal supermarket brands as well,” she said.

“Cost-of-living increases force people make those hard decisions about what’s best for their animals.”

Ms Warren said the transient nature of Kalgoorlie-Boulder and lack of incoming volunteers and animal foster carers had put additional pressure on the volunteer-based service.

She encouraged anyone who might be interested in volunteering or becoming an animal foster carers to contact the local branch.

“Not a lot of people are willing to become foster carers at the moment so it is a bit difficult,” she said.