Let’s tip our hats to the students of Wiscasset Middle High School. They came up with a clever way to raise monies and have some fun while drawing awareness to a very serious problem –the wildfires in the Land Down Under.

On Friday, the high school’s student council sponsored Hat Day. Students and staff could wear almost any bit of headgear they wanted, if they made a small cash donation to the cause. All proceeds will go to the Australian Red Cross and the Australian Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation Fund. They raised $600, all of it coming from the grades six to 12 student body and WMHS staff.

“I think it’s important to let our community know our young people are thinking globally and are committed to community service and helping others,” staff member Deb Pooler told Wiscasset Newspaper. She serves as advisor to the student council.

Principal Chuck Lomonte lent his support to the cause as did many of the teachers and staff. Those who wanted to take part in Hat Day gave at least a dollar donation. Pooler said staff and students alike were very generous. “We received a number of $20 donations and several donations of $50. It was really wonderful that so many students wanted to help.”

By coincidence, from 1976 through 1978, Linda Dygert, now a member of the WMHS teaching staff, taught in Australia. She taught fourth graders in Melbourne, a coastal city in the country’s state of Victoria on the southeast coast. Dygert contacted a friend she’s stayed in touch with Down Under asking where WMHS’s donation might best be used.

Her friend Lyn Pope, now married and living in the mountain community of Taggerty, Victoria, recommended the Australian Red Cross and Australian Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation Fund.

On Tuesday, when the high school’s student council met in Pooler’s room, Dygert shared Pope’s most recent email. “A tragic aspect of these fires has been the loss of lives from firefighters including three from the United States,” writes Pope.

“The long-term process of rebuilding communities and peoples’ lives has begun together with the rescue and rehabilitation of injured wildlife. It’s feared that many species will now join our ever-growing list of endangered animals, so much will need to be done in breeding programs and habitat regeneration to preserve those species under threat,” she continues. “The fires have been catastrophic but perhaps they have also served as a global ‘wakeup call’ with respect to climate change for which we all have to accept responsibility and be prepared to act and change. Thank you so much for your support!”

Pooler said if community members would like to, they, too, can donate to the high school’s Australian Relief Fund. For details, email dpooler@wiscassetschools.org