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40 Hour Famine Fundraiser (Maddi Blincoe + Abby Tay-Morrison)

Jennifer Zeng (Year 11)

Maddi Blincoe and Abby Tay Morrison take on a unique challenge – cutting hair for charity!

The 40 Hour Famine is the largest youth fundraising campaign run by World Vision to raise money and awareness for those in need. For 2021, the 40 Hour Famine challenge happened last weekend – June 25-27th. Maddi Blincoe was one of the students from Sancta Maria to take on the challenge by cutting 40cm of her hair to donate to charity!

“I was excited and it was a thrilling experience, however I was a bit nervous too because I love having long hair and I had been growing it out for 4 years” says Maddi.

Maddi’s interest in making a change and supporting those less fortunate than us led her to sacrifice something important to her. Maddi says that the 40 Hour Ramine challenge is something she wanted to be a part of to help provide food and necessities for those in need. She found her inspiration when looking at the World Vision website where she was reading through stories from past young leaders participating in the challenge. Visit their website here: https://tinyurl.com/WorldVisionNZ

Abby Tay-Morrison is another inspiring individual who cut off 30cm of her hair to donate to charity.

As friends, Abby was keen on joining Maddi in the challenge. Her passion for making change really motivated her to find a way to contribute to those in need. After growing her hair out for a year and a half, cutting off 30cm of hair was exciting and simultaneously scary! Abby says:

“I found it quite exhilarating, as once you had a single piece cut, there was no going back. Once everything was cut, it felt so refreshing”

Supporting each other, both Maddi and Abby have taken a step to grow as individuals and as leaders. All the hair will be donated to Hair Collect, a global charity working to help communities all over the world. https://haircollect.com/

A word of final encouragement from Maddi and Abby:

Maddi: “Don’t let doubt stop you from stepping outside your comfort zone and accomplishing your goals!”

Abby: “If you have any ideas or passions that will help others, do not second guess yourself, just go for it!!”