On 30 August thousands of people will descend on Perth’s CBD to take part in the annual City2Surf running festival. Among the participants will be 11-year-old Jacob and his parents, Simon and Mel.
This will be the first time Jacob (pictured above with his mum) has ever done any long-distance running. In fact, it was actually a school project that spurred this Grade 6 student from Joondalup into action. “We were doing a speech at school about poverty and people, who are less fortunate than us, and we were researching it and I just decided I want to do something – a 12km run,” says a chuckling Jacob.
Each week Jacob heads down to the local park or jumps onto the treadmill with his trusty training partners, his parents, whom he says “are trying to keep up with me!” Jacob is well on his way to achieving his goal of 12km by August, having already ticked 5km and 6km off his list, which “were hard but not too hard”.
“I like to listen to my music while I run and I like to see how far I can go,” he says. “It feels like an achievement for me – 7km is coming next.”
Jacob is taking on this mighty challenge to help children and their families in Nepal whose lives have been devastated by two powerful earthquakes that struck the small Himalayan country only two weeks apart children like Ayush who, while the same age as Jacob, now has neither a home nor a school.
Jacob may never meet Ayush but he knows that the funds his friends and family are donating towards his cause will help “kids around the world that don’t have it as good as I do”.
“It makes me feel really good to know I`m helping to save people’s lives in Nepal,” he adds.
At the beginning of June, Jacob set himself a fundraising target of $200, which he has smashed in just three weeks! He now says he wants to reach $1,000: “I am getting close. I’m already at $700!”
Jacob’s story is truly coming full circle. From an idea that was born in his classroom here in Australia, to a challenge that will see him help other children some 8,000km away return to school. Amazing effort, Jacob!
ChildFund Australia would like to thank Jacob for taking on this mighty challenge to help children who’ve lost homes and schools in Nepal’s earthquake-affected villages.
In May, ChildFund ambassador Danielle Cormack won the TV Week Logie Award for Most Outstanding Actress as voted by her peers. A passionate advocate for vulnerable children and youth, Danielle took the opportunity while accepting her award to say: “There’s a lot of people in the world who need our help, especially in Nepal, so if you can donate through a reputable agency they really need our help right now.”
The actress has since put her money where her mouth is, teaming up with ChildFund Australia and eBay’s Bid for Good to auction off an once-in-a-lifetime prize to help raise funds for ChildFund`s emergency relief efforts in Nepal.
The winning bidders would receive two VIP tickets donated by the Sydney Theatre Company to see Danielle perform in the sold-out production Boys Will Be Boys – and have the opportunity to meet Danielle and the cast backstage afterwards.
So who were the lucky winners? Jamie and Leyla from Sydney, self-confessed super-fans of Danielle, joined forces to put forward their best bid – and after some fierce competition, they won!
“It was so exciting to win the auction. I had really wanted to see the show but couldn’t get tickets because it sold out so quickly so it was wonderful to have the opportunity to see it and then to meet the cast after was just incredible. Being able to support such a fantastic charity was an even better added bonus!” says Jamie.
Even more surprising was that cruise consultant Jamie and PHD student Leyla had never met before! They had been friends online for more than a year, having met through a fan site for ’90s cult TV show Xena: Warrior Princess. It was through this TV show that each of them discovered a young Danielle Cormack, who played the character Ephiny.
“I’ve been a fan of the show since it started in 1995,” says Jamie. “It just has such a strong, positive message. I like women characters that can kick butt and stand up for themselves. I think that’s why I liked Danielle in it so much because she played this Amazonian woman who was such a strong, gutsy female.”
A fan for 20 years, Jamie finally had his chance to meet Danielle when he and Leyla claimed their prize at Sydney’s Wharf Theatre. For Jamie, it was almost as exciting to meet Leyla in person for the first time.
“It was like we had known each other forever,” he says. “Meeting Danielle and Leyla in one night – it really couldn’t get any better than that!”
