By Mikayla van Loon
At just 12-years-old Sophie Degenhardt has already made a big contribution to the Good Friday Appeal ever since her own experience in needing the expert care at the Royal Children’s Hospital.
In 2016, when she was five-years-old, Sophie contracted bacterial meningitis, hospitalising her in the intensive care unit for many weeks.
“All of the nursing staff and people were really, really amazing,” Sophie said.
Ever since, she has been raising funds for the Good Friday Appeal, first participating in Run for the Kids in 2017, 2018 and 2019 but more recently by creating and selling handmade cards at the Lilydale Craft and Produce Market.
“It supports kids like me who are in the hospital for a while or not as long or longer. It helps support all those kids,” Sophie said.
For her parents Lucille and Chris, they couldn’t be more proud of her efforts to raise much needed funds for the hospital that saved their daughter’s life.
“The care she received from the nursing staff and the doctors there was absolutely sensational and they really did, quite honestly, save her life,” Chris said.
“Sophie feels a strong sense of wanting to pay them back and do everything she can to thank them and to help other children that potentially fall into the same troubles that Sophie had.
“She’s a very passionate, young lady. She’s very motivated and very self driven. It’s definitely nothing that we’ve pushed her into, these are all her ideas.”
During the Covid pandemic, Sophie turned to her artistic skills to create handmade items and sell them at a stand.
This led to Sophie receiving a Fred Hollows Humanitarian Award in 2021 after she raised $2524.
With the help of her best friend Amelia, this year Sophie has been able to hand paint gift cards and host regular stalls at the monthly Rotary market with the final fundraising market to be held on Sunday 2 April.
“Amelia and I both really like to make things and we found that painting cards was pretty easy for both of us, considering we both love to paint and we’ve found it’s something really fun to do.
“We do a lot of painting with acrylic paints. [The designs] honestly depend on what we feel like painting, sometimes we paint flowers, or sometimes we just paint cool patterns.”
Not only does card making give the girls a creative outlet but allows them to spend time together regularly each month.
Aiming to raise close to $2000 for the Good Friday Appeal, Sophie said people have been incredibly positive and supportive about her and Amelia’s efforts.
“Quite a few people have actually bought from us. We were really happy with that. A lot of people were supportive of the Good Friday Appeal and were really happy to be donating to them,” she said.
Although they won’t be fundraising throughout the year, Sophie and Amelia have plans to continue selling handmade items at the Lilydale Craft and Produce Market.
“We like to see all the different things other people are doing. We really like to talk to other people and share our stories with other people,” Sophie said.
To help Sophie and Amelia reach their $2000 target, donations can be made via www.fundraise.goodfridayappeal.com.au/fundraisers/stand4sophie/gfa or visit them at the market.
