Orange High School Student Representative Council (SRC) members had a lesson in the true meaning of Christmas on Friday.
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SRC members donated three trolleys worth of gifts to the Kmart Wishing Tree Appeal which will go to young people from toddlers to teenagers.
Students raised $390 through a Christmas-themed bake sale at the school to purchase the gifts.
Orange High School SRC coordinator Kate Rogan said students demonstrated an understanding of the value of giving.
“They’ve really understood the whole idea of giving to those less fortunate and how important it is for kids in other families to open presents on Christmas day,” Ms Rogan said.
“Students were thoughtful in the gifts they bought. They made sure they would last a long time, they didn’t require batteries and they were items children would get a lot of use out of like soccer balls.
“They chose educational toys for young children like blocks put into puzzles and Play-Doh. Things that will be very useful.”
Ms Rogan described the members as "a really motivated, very compassionate group of students”.
“The staff were really impressed. We ended up with three full trolleys so they had to bring out a big storage trolley there were too many gifts to fit under the tree,” she said.
SRC member Gabby Lloyd said the fundraiser was a part of a wider fundraising initiative at the school.
“My vision for prefect for 2017 is to coordinate the funding of Orange High School and as a result this term we decided we wanted to support the Orange community,” Gabby said.
“We’ve been members of the Kmart wishing tree for a few years now so we were really excited to do it again and support community with those less fortunate and share the joy of Christmas.”
Gabby said students wanted to give people in need in the community a better Christmas day.
“Christmas is all about sharing the joy of happiness and giving gifts of love to everyone so we just wanted to be an important thing for everyone to experience over Christmas time,” she said.
“Through this experience we’ve all learnt it’s such a rewarding experience giving gifts and fundraising for others. As we know, someone who wasn’t expecting a present on Christmas day might get one and the joy that could bring to them would be really great.”
The Kmart Wishing Tree Appeal partners with the Salvation Army and Mission Australia to give those in need gifts at Christmas time. The general public is invited to join the appeal and leave gifts under the Kmart Wishing Tree.
