Bayfield High School Junior Council's Easter Canter Appeal was a tough act to follow, but with the help of Bayfield's musical talent, and some early morning shelf-clearing at Anderson's Bay Countdown, a grand total of 691 cans was collected for the annual Octacan Appeal, writes Louise Chandler.
Three weeks before the 17th of June, Bayfield Edge interns Louise Chandler and Amara Rosamunde were given their biggest task yet. ‘Get as many cans as you can, and deliver them to the Octagon between 7:30 and 8:30 am on that day.'
With a lot of planning and discussion, and help from Ms Doole and the Senior Council, the Bayfield ‘Octacan Campaign' began.
The interns saw this as a great opportunity for Bayfield to support the food banks, and better yet, it was announced that $1000 worth of advertising was up for grabs from The Edge.
It was then decided it would be worth house points as well. Bayfield rock group, ‘Intrepid' performed a lunchtime set of some of their music to raise cans and donations for Octacan.
Tom Richardson, Blake Acklin and Joel Berryman filled the hall with their music, including some popular covers. Preparing himself for the chance at Rock Quest Finals, Kane Strang also performed a lunchtime set, playing his music that Bayfield students are now very familiar with. ‘Rusty' and ‘Seeya Luca' were just some of the songs Kane performed, and over 100 cans were raised with his performance alone.
With these two shows a great success, it seemed a mufti day was well deserved, raising donations to go towards more cans.
On Wednesday morning, June the 15th, the Edge Interns teamed up with Miss Doole at Anderson's Bay Countdown to get as many cans as they could with the donations received.
This involved clearing the shelves of over 400 cans of food, ranging from baked beans, to canned tomatoes.
Three trolley loads later, it was really worth it.
The morning of the 17th was a busy and fulfilling one, the Interns and Mrs Hepburn filling a Bayfield van with all of the cans collected.
The busy Dunedin traffic would not stop them, and the three were greeted at the Octagon by the Octacan organisers - who were amazed at the sight of the can-packed van.
All of the cans were placed into a large circle.
Bayfield's contribution really stood out, house letters on top of each can counting towards house points.
A grand total of 691 cans were raised and donated by Bayfield to the foodbanks - a contribution that will really make a difference to many lives. Begg house took out the competition for most cans, and they have gained house points for all the contributions made.
Unfortunately, Bayfield did not win the advertising prize, but by coming in a close second with not many cans in it, it felt good to know that even a relatively small school of just over 600 students could get involved and help out with such an appeal.
Thank you to everyone involved with the Octacan can raising. A very special thanks to the ‘Intrepid' band members, Kane Strang, Ms Doole, and Mrs Hepburn for helping to make it such a success.
