As tradition follows, the year started off again with the ever so highly anticipated, Valentine's balloons fundraiser, spreading love and painting our college red by having Interact members prepare and sell over 950 red, heart-shaped balloons.  Students were able to buy these balloons and write a special note to their friends, then have the balloon and note delivered to the recipient on Valentine's day!  This year we broke our record by selling over 100 more balloons than previous years and raising almost $2000 for the Heart Foundation.  These funds helped to support those who are affected by heart disease in New Zealand.

 

Our Interact club also assisted within our local community through the Community River Carnival hosted by Rotary and the Howick Local Board.  Interactors helped out by preparing various food stalls such as the sausage sizzle, cotton candy and popcorn stations, as well as supervising the children playing in the bouncy castles.  Along with the River Carnival, Interactors also volunteered to support and encourage the primary school children who participated in the annual Tip Top Schools Day at Edgewater College.  This was again a huge success with both the children and Interactors having a blast throughout the day!

 

In Pakuranga College the Interact Club hosts and organises all events regarding the 40 Hour Famine.  This year the money that we raised from the famine went towards the South Sudanese refugees who fled the country of Northern Uganda - a country suffering from an horrendous civil war.  These funds were used to support these refugees by providing essentials like food, clean water, toilets and safe areas where the refugee children could learn, play and just be children.  To raise awareness we held the '40 Hour Famine Launch Day' which included special performances from students and a specialist harpist, as well as a guest speaker from World Vision to help inform and inspire the students.  To raise these funds our Interact club held a bake sale ($855.30), sausage sizzle ($463.20), movie fundraiser ($862) and introduced a new event called the 'loose change week' ($87.10).  Together with the funds from the 40 Hour Famine participants we raised a total of $5370 for these South Sudanese refugees.

 

As a student-led council we are very proud of our efforts and what we managed to achieve this year.  We would just like to thank all the Interactors and supporters who helped us in our journey to try and change our world for the better, one small step at a time.  A very special thank you to Mrs Adele Siljeur (teacher liaison) and Mr Peter Woodcock of Rotary for continuous guidance and assistance throughout the year! "