Liam McNally
Star Weekly is taking a look back at 2023. Here’s one of our biggest stories from last year.
When Exford Primary School principal Lisa Camp spoke outside of the school the day after a tragic bus collision involving her students, she said the school had been “inundated with messages of love and support and food and flowers”.
“It’s just lovely to know that our community is right there with us,” she said.
In the week following there has been an outpouring of support from Eynesbury and surrounding communities, with multiple fundraisers and donations of food and toys to support those affected by the incident.
A GoFundMe page, which had raised more than $30,000 when Star Weekly went to print, was set up by Jessica Hodges, Pam McGuire, Sam Bonnici and Shanny Fiteni – parents of Exford Primary School students.
Ms Hodges, who has a nine-year-old and a five-year-old enrolled at Exford who were not involved in the accident, said the aim of the fundraiser was to help with immediate and unexpected costs parents are dealing with while children are in hospital, from having time off work to parking fees.
“The school is run off their feet, we want to help start the fundraising process to eliminate some of the work that the school would need or want to do,” she said.
“There’s a lot of stressed out parents and families at the moment … Most people are trying to come together, we’ve opened our arms …
“I did not come close to expecting anything like $25,000. It’s been incredible, it just shows the support that we’ve got around our community.”
The Eynesbury Eagles Football Netball Club has also rallied around the students and their families.
On Friday, May 19, the Eynesbury Eagles Football Netball Club brought together more than 1000 community members to raise funds during its Riddell District Football Netball League Club 18 match against Wallan.
As of Monday morning, club president Peter Berry said the money raised was at “$25,000 and counting“.
“The community came out in droves to support the fundraiser,“ he said.
“The way the community rallied together was amazing. People are still saddened and shocked by the event that felt so close to home for everybody, many of us had kids attend the school or currently at the school, so we have a very close connection with Exford Primary School.
“We hope for the the children and the families a speedy recovery.“
The Country Women’s Association (CWA) of Bacchus Marsh has donated almost 40 hand-knitted teddy bears to the school.
CWA president June Webb said everybody feels for the children after the “dreadful” incident.
“When kids are upset and hurt they need something to cuddle,” she said.
Combined Caring Churches Melton (CCCM) have also put their hands up to act as a centralised drop-off point for people wanting to donate food to the school.
CCCM’s Michelle Retimana said that rather than having lots of individual drop offs to the school, CCCM has the facilities and capacity to store food people would like to donate, until the school is ready for it to be dropped off in one go.
“It’s impacting the whole community, everyone is shaken and Melton is a very tight community … when things like this happen we all rally together as a family,” she said.
In her address outside of Exford Primary, Ms Campo also thanked the “amazing staff” of the school, passers-by who stopped to help, and the “emergency services who turned out in full”.
Details:
www.gofundme.com/f/exford-families, CCCM: 9747 6811
