Wimmera residents have opened their hearts to boys and girls in the region going through difficult times.
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Funded by donations from the community, Federation University TAFE students have created approximately 70 kids care packs filled with items including pyjamas, books, toys and pencils.
On Monday, the students passed these onto the Salvation Army to give to children aged between two and 12 years old across the region.
Natimuk's Paige Flaherty said she and other Horsham-based Diploma of Community Services students devised the campaign as part of their study.
"We were required to implement and monitor a service program," she said.
"We had a few ideas and we met with the Salvation Army and they told us they needed help to bring relief to children in particular, because they were getting more donations for adults."
She said the students were thankful for the level of community involvement, with donations being sourced from Horsham, Natimuk, Warracknabeal, Dimboola, Ararat, Jeparit and Ballarat among other locations.
"We're overwhelmed by the amount of support we got, because donations were only open for about two weeks. We were expecting about twenty bags, and we got over 70, so that was pretty fantastic," she said.
She said she eventually hoped to find work supporting young families and children in the Wimmera.
The students created a facebook page, flyers and collection points across the Wimmera as part of the donation drive.
SalvoConnect Western regional manager Lindsay Stow said the organisation would use the "very practical" donations in their homelessness programs.
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