Anything to help (From Penarth Times)

Anything to help

AFTER watching the harrowing images of the tsunami disaster, a 12-year-old pupil at Headlands in Penarth decided she had to do something to help.

"I felt sad for those people who had lost so much," said Annabel, a resident at the National Children's Home School.

"They lost everything - mothers, fathers, sons, daughters, friends and homes.

"I just wanted to do something to help, anything to help."

Soon Annabel was busy washing cars at the school, and staff at Headlands were only too pleased to help her.

The residential house at Dinas Powys also supported her by sponsoring a day's silence, and single-handedly she raised 65.

Her passion inspired other children at the school, and the snowballing of this idea spread into the community.

Venues for sponsored car wash events arrived, with Homerite Heating and Bathrooms agreeing to host one, and Penarth Leisure Centre another. Jewsons also supplied a hose for the event.

The young people at Headlands particularly wanted to help the orphans of the disaster.

Annabel said: "We think we have difficult lives, but they are nothing compared to what those orphans must be experiencing now."