Give a Damn Give a Can: Our Lady of Mercy College Australind donate more than 1000 cans

Year 12 students at a South West college have left a can-filled legacy after donating more than 1000 cans to the Bunbury-Leschenault Rotary Club as part of their Give a Damn Give a Can campaign. The result of an intraschool competition, the college’s 800 students — as well as staff — donated a grand total of 1175 cans to be distributed to those in need. A “record breaking” number for the school, student and ministry captain Jessica Marzano said it started as an attempt by a group of year 12 of students to beat previous donation amounts. “Last year there were 100 cans donated so one group of students wanted to beat that by one can, and then another group of students wanted to double it,” she said. Ministry captain — and student behind the initial “friendly competition” — Ryley Wastell said the year 12’s wanted to “leave a good mark”. “This year we have collected a record number of cans — 1175, out of the year 12s we have collected over 300 cans,” he said. “It is our final year at the school and we wanted to ensure we left a good mark and donate a lot of cans.” Bunbury-Leschenault Rotary Club member Vic Puzey said the early donation and effort from students was “magnificent”. “The food will be divided equally between the Salvation Army, St Vincent De Paul and Bunbury’s Intown Lunch Centre,” he said. “Most of the schools are going to do it in the second half of next term, so there is another 20-odd schools that will be doing it.” “(OLM College) have done a magnificent job . . . last year we collected about 10,500 cans, it’s about $20,000 worth of food, distributed to needy people.”