Every year, children at our Bunbury Early Learning Centre proudly wear bright blue in celebration of Ahlia, a young girl who sadly lost her battle with a rare form of cancer.
Ahlia Williams, who was a cherished part of the Y Bunbury Early Learning Centre (ELC), passed away in 2020 when she was just seven years old. Her family remained connected to the centre as her younger brother continued to attend.
This deeply meaningful event, known as Ahlia’s Kindness Day, honours Ahlia but while raising funds for RUNDIPG, an Australian charity supporting children with diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma, a rare brain cancer.
Katie Williams, Ahlia’s mum, takes pride in the community's tribute to her daughter’s compassionate spirit. What started as a simple idea to honour Ahlia has grown to involve over 20 schools and organisations, more than 30 local businesses, and the entire community.
“The year after Ahlia passed, the school was looking for a way to honour her and she was best known for being that kind, caring, compassionate little girl,’ she said.
“They wanted to have a day of kindness is honour of her, and I suppose everyone caught wind of it and it’s now quite a bit day that’s in her honour where we celebrate kindness’.
Each year the Y Bunbury Early Learning Centre is transformed with blue decorations. Children eagerly wear blue and contribute a gold coin donation to support the cause. In addition to daily lessons in kindness, a special lesson on the topic was held in the Kindy room on the day.
Reflecting on the day’s success, early childhood educator Allison Solum highlighted its dual purpose of fundraising and community engagement.
“Parents were really excited about this, and to see an actual day care get involved with it too,” Solum noted.
We look forward to honouring Ahlia and her special day for years to come.