Three determined schoolgirls have raised more than $1,000 for the Life Skills Programme at WindReach recreational village.

Victoria Mello, Jaedah Trott and Asia Seymour, M3 students at Somersfield Academy, put their heads together to organise a host of events over the past six weeks for students and teachers at their school, as well as members of the public.

Activities included movie screenings and a raffle basket at their spring fair.

Victoria, 13, whose mother is a teacher at the school, said: “We are required to do a community action project and so we decided to help WindReach.

“We have to help the community in some sort of way. We could have volunteered but raising money might have been more helpful because they can buy what they need. I volunteered for WindReach for a year and Jaedah did for four years, so we knew about them.” Jaedah, 14, added: “They wanted us to choose how the money was spent since we had raised the money, so we chose the Life Skills Programme, which is the base of Windreach.

“They were really excited and very grateful. As well as raising money we raised awareness — they are a non-profit organisation so they rely on people to donate and volunteer there.”

Asia, 13, said: “Victoria and Jaedah told me about what they were doing and I loved the idea and really wanted to help support their mission. The Life Skills Programme aids the petting zoo, the gardening and therapeutic writing at WindReach. They can now decide which equipment to get with the money.”

The girls beat their target of $1,000 — raising $1,200 —and the experience has spurred them to do more in the community.

Jaedah said: “We will probably end up doing this again.

“You are not just helping the people with special needs, you are helping you as a person grow.”