6 May 2008
With health living on everyone's agenda, schools are looking for fundraising alternatives to the traditional chocolate drive, and Victoria University (VU) has devised a calorie-free and green fundraising program with a difference.
VU's Iramoo Sustainable Community Centre is offering schools in Melbourne's western region the chance to sell native wildflower, shrub or grass seedlings, known by such charming common names as native bluebells, leek lilies, running postman, chamomile sunrays, and golden billy buttons.
Melissa Doherty, VU Ranger and Interpretation Officer, said the project was piloted late last year with ten primary and secondary schools in Brimbank. They ordered a total of 40 fundraiser boxes, each containing 48 seedling tubestock. The schools buy the seedlings for $1 each, then decide on their own sale price, usually a dollar or two higher.
Melissa said most of the trial schools had been looking for new fundraising products that were also educational.
She said: "Many teachers were expressing disappointment that fundraising products these days are made in China or need to be bulk-ordered."
"Along with the seedlings, we supply species and conservation reports, and suggest activities that promote environmental education."
Students can learn while they earn through a range of activities, such as calculating sales figures and profits, researching their local environment, or writing fact sheets or gardening tips for buyers.
Importantly, the project helps conserve several regionally threatened flowers, which have been decimated by urbanisation, and creates habitat for native wildlife when the seedlings are planted in local gardens.
Melissa said: "The beauty of the project is that it has a wide scope for teaching and learning, and is great for the environment too."
The program will run twice a year. Schools that place their orders early in the year pick up their seedlings in August, and those that place orders at the end of the year, pick them up early the following year.
The seedlings are all propagated at the 43-hectare Iramoo Centre, at VU's St Albans Campus. Iramoo is named after the Woiwurung name for the grassy wildflower plains that once ringed Melbourne. It serves to educate the community about sustainability and the environment with its native nursery, seed bank, and education and conservation projects.
Further information:
Melissa Doherty, Ranger, Iramoo, VU; Ph: (03) 9919 2815
Media Contact: Andy Gash, Snr. Media Officer,
Marketing & Communications Department, Victoria University
Ph: (03) 9919 4950; mobile 0411 255 900
