The Smith Family currently helps 540 Wagga students with educational scholarships and is hoping to expand this to 600.
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Olga Srbovski, the organisation’s regional program manager for NSW and the ACT, on Tuesday updated Member for Riverina Michael McCormack about The Smith Family’s current and planned future activities in Wagga.
Ms Srbovski said The Smith Family was always looking for sponsors for students, and also volunteers, particularly to support children with their education.
The Smith Family has preschool programs and is looking for mentors who are able to assist with planned learning clubs aimed at primary-school aged children.
Ms Srbovski said a third of children started school behind their peers and by year 10, this gap had grown to be as much as three years.
“We want to shift that gap. We want it to narrow,” she said.
Ms Srbovski and Mr McCormack on Tuesday attended NAIDOC Week activities at Mount Austin High School, where The Smith Family runs Girls at the Centre, an initiative aimed at Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander girls. This program currently caters to 62 girls, but will expanded to assist 75.
“We want to encourage the girls to not only look after themselves with a healthy lifestyle, but to take advantage of the opportunities generated by attending school,” Ms Srbovski said.