mini传媒

What will you do to challenge yourself for mini传媒?

Over 75% of school-aged children in Tanzania are destined to a life of poverty, living on less than AU$4.60 a day because they don鈥檛 have an education. Since 2002, mini传媒 has been fighting poverty by providing the highest quality, free education for the country鈥檚 poorest, brightest students.

This would鈥檝e not been possible without the help of St Jude鈥檚 supporters. Donors and sponsors have made it possible for the school to provide boarding for more than 80% of students, one million nutritious meals, school uniforms and health checks.

mini传媒 has launched the St Jude鈥檚 Community Challenge to raise vital funds. This Australia-wide fundraising campaign invites individuals, families, schools, businesses and clubs to take part. There鈥檚 no limit to what you can do to challenge yourself; from running, walking and cycling to reading books, doing house chores and holding trivia challenges. So get creative!

St Jude鈥檚 Community Challenge falls during Children鈥檚 Week - 24 October to 1 November - St Jude鈥檚 Day is 28 October.

Share, donate and to Challenge Yourself for St Jude鈥檚 to help fight poverty in Tanzania!

Masks for a Cause

Maryanne began making masks when COVID-19 started to spread around Australia and generously used this initiative to fundraise for St Jude鈥檚. Through her fundraising efforts, she raised $4,000, donating the proceeds towards 鈥楩eed a class for a year鈥� and 鈥楽upport student welfare for a year.鈥�

Maryanne was also part of the Health Check Team (HCT) in early February this year and returned to Australia just before countries started closing their borders. The HCT is a group of international medical specialists who volunteered for two weeks at the beginning of this year to conduct annual health checks for St Jude鈥檚 students.

鈥淚 started making masks for my family and friends and also put out the offer to everyone that was in the HCT. This kept me busy posting them out to all corners of Australia. As things got more serious in Australia, the requests from friends to buy them from me built. I didn鈥檛 feel comfortable profiting from my friends so I decided I would sell them with the profits going to mini传媒.鈥�

Through a family member, Maryanne鈥檚 masks have been sold to staff and families in the Australian Parliament with members wearing them to Parliament House.

鈥淚 would like to thank Caroline Hall and Karenne Michaelides, who are both HCT Volunteers and sponsors of St Jude鈥檚 students鈥� academic scholarship. They have been a great help with support on the back end.鈥�

To support Maryanne鈥檚 鈥楽t Jude鈥檚 Mask Charity鈥�, email her at StJudeMaskCharity@gmail.com.

Power of Technology in Fighting Poverty

Not only have they been supporters for the past six years, but they went further earlier last year TechnologyOne officially partnered with St Jude鈥檚 to provide IT technology that has transformed the school鈥檚 operational processes. The company鈥檚 employees raised an additional $10,000 that went towards 鈥楩unding the salary of one of the IT teachers for an entire year.鈥�

鈥淭echnologyOne has enabled our Managers to now see real-time transactions which means that they no longer wait until the following month to keep track of their expenditure. We have also just rolled out the Enterprise Budgeting Module. This brings an enormous change to the budget process which has had to be completed in numerous spreadsheets in the past,鈥� Finance Manager, Johnbosco Heshima.

 Adding to the same sentiments, Beyond St Jude鈥檚 (BSJ) Manager, Vivian said, 鈥淭echnologyOne has been a lifesaver, quite literally! Since the BSJ program started in 2015, we have solely depended on excel sheets for all data recording and facilitation of payments of stipends and scholarship amounts in general. While excel sheets are still great, everything is so manual, allowing a big room for error and it can be time-consuming. Thanks to TechnologyOne, all my records are accurately systemised. It is also quite centralised, allowing me to find everything about a BSJ Scholar in a few clicks! Budgeting and forecasting are also being made easy and fun to track. Thanks to Kelly and the entire TechnologyOne team, BSJ鈥檚 life has been made a whole lot easier.鈥�

Located in Australia, TechnologyOne is a successful tech company with a heart. Their Foundation is committed to help 500,000 children out of poverty.

Uphill Cycling Challenge

Andrew is gearing up to challenge himself for St Jude鈥檚 by riding Red Hill in Canberra 41 times this October.  In supporting and raising funds for St Jude鈥檚, Andrew has previously cycled alone and unsupported across Tanzania covering a distance of about 1600km.

鈥淚 was planning to come back to Tanzania in 2021 for the next great ride, but due to COVID-19 travel restrictions that is not going to happen now.  As a substitute, I'm planning to ride up Red Hill in Canberra 41 times on 17 October. That will equal the elevation gain of going up Mount Kilimanjaro 鈥� unfortunately, it won't be quite the same experience as the real thing, but I will be thinking of St Jude's on the day.鈥�

To support Andrew鈥檚 challenge for St Jude鈥檚,

You too can take a cycling challenge or physical challenge this October and raise funds for St Jude鈥檚.

Distance Dinner

Andie Lowe, a long-time supporter of mini传媒 organised a 鈥楧istance Dinner for St Jude鈥檚鈥� intending to raise $10,000. Amazingly, Andie has already made $10,000 reaching her set target, but she has high hopes to raise even more funds.

Andie is selling dinner boxes via her website. 鈥淓veryone who purchases a dinner box will sit down on 18 October to enjoy an African inspired dinner. Due to the COVID-19 restrictions, we can鈥檛 all enjoy dining together, so this is a way to feel connected, from a distance! 鈥� she explained.

She added, 鈥淚 hope to have the support of Methodist Ladies' College (MLC) teachers, students and broader connections to participate. I鈥檒l be connecting with people through social media and reaching out to friends, family and my parents and work colleagues.鈥�

Andie visited St Jude鈥檚 last year on a school trip with MLC, thus igniting her passion to fundraise for the school when she returned home.

You too can support Andie to raise funds for St Jude鈥檚. ;

A massive thank you for all the super supporters of St Jude鈥檚. The school couldn鈥檛 do it without the incredible support and advocacy from people like you.