Nothing can beat the excitement of new stationeries at the beginning of the school year but the sad reality is that not everyone gets to experience it.
Maddy Wilson, 14 from Wellington is on a big mission to ensure that all Kiwi kids have essential stationeries for school so they too can "enjoy learning" as she does.
"I love stationary and I really enjoy sewing. It's really a fun thing to do" Maddy told The Project.
"In year 10 we do something called 'community project for MYP'. We basically have to identify a community and find out some way to help them."
Her inspiration to launch her project 'Pack a Pencil Case' was when her neighbour who's a teacher mentioned the lack of stationary in schools.
"She mentioned the need for stationery in schools and I was quite surprised because I didn’t know it was a problem up until now," she said.
"So then I did some research into the cost of living in New Zealand and found out that people have to make lots of sacrifices, and stationery is one of them."
Ever since then, she's been creating pencil cases, with the help of her mum, and nan.
Every pencil case has been made out of love and she even attaches a homemade charm that they make on their own.
The pencil cases don't get sent out just on their own, it's also filled with classroom essentials.
"It's really important to have the right resources so that they can enjoy learning, like I do" she says.
Maddy has been collecting donations of stationary by spending her weekends in her local supermarkets where she's collected Countdown and Warehouse stationery vouchers. She's even collected stationeries by leaving a donation box at her mum's work.
So far, she's created a whopping 220 pencil cases!
"I've made 220 in total and we've filled about 200. We're in the process of making 30 more because the need is everywhere and the demand is huge" she said.
She hopes to expand her project in the future.
"It would be so cool, imagine all the students we could help if more people jumped on board and sewed some pencils".
Well done Maddy, you're making a difference for so many kids and families. The joy that each kid feels when receiving your personalized pencil case would have certainly been out of the world.
Watch the full interview below.
