There may be no official record for a school fundraising coin trail, but Roseville College did a pretty good job of setting one in the last school term. each class raised money for Anglican Aid and their combined coin snake was nearly 650 metres long.

The college did this as part of an initiative of the Anglican education Commission to raise funds for and awareness of Anglican Aid projects. Alison Wheldon, the curriculum consultant at the AEC, said the point “wasn’t how much money we were raising, it was on the whole idea of service”. She added that the idea was also linked to the annual thanksgiving service for Anglican schools, which this year focused on “celebrating and serving”.

All 38 Anglican schools in the diocese were invited to take part in raising money for projects aimed at helping children in the democratic Republic of Congo, Indonesia, ethiopia, India and Uganda. While a number of schools were already committed to projects in 2012 and couldn’t take part, 11 schools planned everything from the coin trail to a pay-as-you-go water play day (ByO water pistol), mufti days, barbecues and cake stalls.

The acting chaplain of Roseville College, Valerie Williams, said the idea for the coin trail came from the “principle in deuteronomy 24 of the workers and landowners always putting aside part of their produce for the poor. We thought that in our consumer-based society we would put our change aside... and we called it ‘Spare change to bring change’.

Photo: Roseville College junior girls with their coin line

“The girls understood clearly that they were helping the orphans in Bali, and that they were particularly helping them to establish industries for themselves so they would become self- sustaining. That really struck a chord: it wasn’t just a handout, but would change the kids in that orphanage and give them skills to take with them into their lives.”

Mrs Wheldon said that well over $10,000 had already been raised, even though some of the schools were yet to hold their events, and other schools had contacted her and said they planned to take part next year.

“A number of schools already have a big service program, and some already have well- entrenched support for other organisations... but many schools did say that although their service calendar was full this year that in subsequent years they would get on board,” she said. “They could do something in a big or a small way – for us the focus is to do something as a community of schools that’s tangible and constructive.”