By Rachel Curry
Assigned to a school project for the improvement of Australia’s future, Santa Maria College student Ruby Mavrick has now gone global.
The 14 year old began an extracurricular sewing group last year which has produced 45 teddy bears for children with disabilities in developing countries.
Ruby said she conceived the idea while she was participating in Santa Maria’s Explore8 program, which asks all Year 8 students at the Catholic school to create a project to improve Australia’s future.
After an earlier visit to Wheelchairs for Kids, a charity which provides wheelchairs to disadvantaged children in countries such as Vietnam, Kenya and Myanmar, Ruby knew exactly what her project would be.
“We were shown around and it was so inspiring to see how people had donated teddies, along with wheelchairs, to give to the kids,” she said.
“I decided I would write a proposal letter about starting my own service co-curricular. I received a response, all the teachers were so supportive with my project and we started sewing some teddies.”
Fifteen students joined the group and met up once a week for two hours after school to produce the soft toys.
Despite the impost on her leisure time, Ruby said she did not feel like she was making much of a sacrifice.
“Sewing is very relaxing and I really enjoy it, so I was happy to do something like that. I know a lot of other girls were, too,” she said.
“I had so many girls wanting to join but I could only take 15 because of the size of the sewing room.”
After last year’s success, the students are taking on a new challenge this year – making bright sleeves to add some colour to the back of the wheelchairs.
Ruby said she was excited about doing something new, particularly after talking to the volunteers at Wheelchairs for Kids.
“It will help them because that is what they need. They were so thankful that we were going to create these sleeves because they already have a lot of people sewing teddies,” she said.
Ruby said she was thankful to Santa Maria for giving her the opportunity to change something in Australia or, in her case, the world.
Now in Year 10, she hopes the sewing group will continue after she graduates.
“I hope this continues,” she said, “and I think it will because, as it becomes more popular, more and more people want to join.”