GEKA Murrumbeena 

Helping our community

GEKA Murrumbeena Educators

Last year, during Term 4, GEKA Murrumbeena Kindergarten were involved in an initiative called “helping hands”. The idea for this initiative was instigated by one of our families in the Echidna group.

The Victorian charity organisation called Envision uses waste plastic from bottle caps to produce prosthetic limbs for children. At the Envision facility, the lids are cleaned and sorted into colours before being shredded and fed through an extruder. This creates a filament that can be used in 3D printing to produce the brightly coloured prosthetics, which are then sent to children in need across many developing countries.

This project was so simple and easy. It ticked a couple of boxes for us…  we encouraged the children and families to be sustainable by recycling the lids, whilst supporting children with disabilities.

The children across all three groups were very involved in the collection drive. A box sat in a prominent position in the room for many weeks and we all watched it fill to overflowing as the term progressed! One of the children had a great idea to make a sign and decorate the box so that it was visible for everyone. The project encouraged involvement from our wider community as children involved their wider family connections and neighbours to support this cause.

It was encouraging for us to see that such a small thing can have a big impact on the lives of others!