Kingaroy State High School students Maddi Dalgarno, Danielle Janz and Karla Coward hard at work on Saturday morning
Danielle Janz and Kate Mashford

October 8, 2012

It’s not unusual to see fund-raising groups around the South Burnett offering to wash your car on a Saturday morning but this particular effort at the weekend was a little bit special …

The car washers, all Year 10 students from Kingaroy State High School, were set up in Baron Street, Kingaroy, next to Lions Park.

They were earning money for their Relay For Life team, “Team Jemma”, and had collected about $250 by the time southburnett.com.au dropped by.

Team Jemma? Sadly, a funeral service for their schoolfriend Jemma was held in Kingaroy just the day before.

Jemma Conway, 15, died of leukaemia in the Royal Children’s Hospital in Brisbane on September 23 after a 10-year battle with the disease.

Team organisers Kate Mashford and Danielle Janz said Jemma had been a part of the team so now they had decided to raise the funds in her memory.

As well as the carwash, the girls have also put donation jars around town and flyers under windscreen wipers.

Relay For Life is the Cancer Council’s annual major fund-raising event.  The 2012 South Burnett Relay For Life will be held at Kingaroy Showgrounds next Saturday and Sunday.

The Cancer Council says Relay For Life is an opportunity to get together with your community to celebrate cancer survivors, remember loved ones lost and fight back against cancer.

Which is exactly what the members of “Team Jemma” were doing on Saturday morning …