The combination of Mercy College students’ generosity and determination to help those in need has once again borne fruit through one of their initiatives, the PaMaChi Grandparents Shop.
Based on an idea raised by Grandparents Rearing Children WA, the Koondoola students established the PaMaChi group to offer financial aid to grandparents who, due to unforeseen circumstances, have fallen into full-time care of their grandchildren.
The aim of PaMaChi is to alleviate the living costs for grandparents earning nothing else but their pension and therefore struggling to provide their grandchildren with basic necessities.
After several meetings held to discuss what could be done to help both children and grandparents in such circumstances, students Noah Pemberton, Jennifer Huynh, Ahlawn Kengmual, Steven Tran, Amy Nguyen and Jasmine Huynh raised the idea of the PaMaChi Grandparents Shop to the leadership team of Mercy College and were given the all-clear.
The shop held a Christmas event and a morning tea in December which raised $600 to purchase toys for the children’s Christmas presents and gave away 15 hampers to help both children and grandparents.
“Though what we have accomplished seems so small, I feel like we have come closer to achieving much more in helping both the grandparents and the grandchildren,” said Jennifer Huynh, reflecting on the efforts she has channelled towards the cause.
Mercy College student Noah Pemberton also expressed his thoughts on the initiative, laying emphasis on his hopes for the group’s future. “I really feel like The PaMaChi Grandparents Shop will be able to achieve a lot of good within not only our school, but within the entire community,” he said.
His comments were echoed by his friend Damon Dinh. “I believe that what we are doing for these children and their grandparents is a very great accomplishment,” Damon said.
The PaMaChi Shop plans to continue raising funds throughout 2016.