A Special Surprise For Local Legend Jack Berne, 11-Year-Old Who Raised $1.6M For Struggling Farmers
It’s people like this that really restore our faith in humanity – and so it’s hard to believe that this little hero is only 11-years-old!
Jack Berne became a local legend in Australia after he helped design a fundraising campaign to raise money for our struggling farmers.
The initiative is called ‘Fiver for a Farmer’ and Jack started it back in 2018 at his school in the Northern Beaches after hearing just tough life had been for Aussie farmers following an intense drought.
11-year-old Jack told Kyle and Jackie O this morning that he heard about the drought at school and he couldn’t believe how badly it had impacted hardworking Australians. And so he decided to step up and help out.
“I was watching a video on the drought at school and I just kind of went home and was like, ‘Wait, what’s a drought? What’s all this about?’,” Jack told us this morning.
“So I like started writing an email with this idea to just dress up like a farmer and bring in five dollars and it just all came together.”
Jack managed to get everyone at school to dress up as a farmer for the day and bring in a $5 donation.
After an incredible effort, Jack has managed to raise a whopping $1.6 million (AUS) to support farmers across Australia who have been suffering throughout the drought. What a little legend!
Since starting his incredible initiative, Jack has won a Kids' Choice Award for being a local legend!
And KIIS 1065 Sydney wanted to make sure that he gets to be there at the awards ceremony in LA next month so that he can accept this incredible award!
KIIS 1065 Sydney spoke with their friends at Nickelodeon and managed to pull some strings to fly both Jack and his mum over to LA for the Kids' Choice Awards 2020 on March 22!
After hearing Jack’s incredible story, they hooked him up with the best of the best, providing five nights’ accommodation in LA and an invite to all the exclusive events happening around the Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards, including SlimeFest!
It’s safe to say that Jack was completely over-the-moon! Of course, he made sure to check with his mum first to make sure it was okay to accept the trip! What a sweetheart!
A massive thanks to Nickelodeon and the slimiest awards show on the planet for helping KIIS 1065 Sydney make this happen for Aussie legend Jack Berne!
Hear the full giveback in the podcast below!
Jack is one of five recipients of Nickelodeon's Local Legends Kids' Choice Award:
Danzal Baker (Baker Boy)
Born in Darwin and raised in the remote Northern Territory communities of Milingimbi and Maningrida, Danzal Baker (aka Baker Boy) is one of the freshest new hip-hop talents to emerge from Australia.
Danzal, a proud indigenous musician, raps in both English and the Yolngu Matha language, paying tribute to his Arnhem Land family. By doing this he hopes to inspire younger generations to embrace their culture and become leaders in their communities.
“Music is the best meditjin (medicine), it brings everyone together, makes you want to dance, love, laugh, vibe and feel and I wrote Meditjin with just that in mind. It’s about making people feel the music and expressing themselves”, says Danzal.
Jack Berne
Jack is the 11-year-old founder of Fiver for a Farmer, a fundraising campaign which captivated the nation when it began in 2018. After learning about the drought at school, Jack, from the Northern Beaches of Sydney, went from caring about it to taking action, asking his classmates to dress up as farmers and donate $5 to the cause. The contentious primary school student then went on to borrow his mum’s laptop and send emails out to media outlets asking for their help to spread the word about the campaign and generate much needed funds. He hit his first goal of $100,000 in less than a week and has since raised over $1.6 million for Australia’s struggling farming communities.
"If we can't grow from our own backyard, we need to do something about it. We are the future and we have to take care of this world”, says Jack
Molly Steer
11-year-old Molly is the founder of the Straw No More, an action-led campaign which encourages schools across Australia to stop using single-use plastic straws in their tuckshops and canteens.
Molly’s inspiration came after watching a movie called A Plastic Ocean, where she first discovered that plastic can end up in the ocean where it hurts marine life. She immediately started to think of ways to help eradicate single use plastic from the schoolyard.
“I started thinking about ways I could help the sea animals. I decided to ask my School Principal if we could stop using plastic straws at our school tuckshop. Then other schools in the area found out about it, and they wanted to join in too. We’ve had schools from all over Australia get in touch to say they are interested. We’ve even had people from South Korea, New Zealand, England and America contact us! Each day, we have more people saying they want to get involved. Even some cafe’s around Cairns are taking the StrawNoMore pledge!” says Molly.
Jacinda Ardern
Jacinda Ardern, the 40th Prime Minister of New Zealand, is both the world’s youngest female head of government and first world leader to bring her child to the United Nations general assembly. Putting the needs of both her own child and the children of New Zealand first, Jacinda continues to remain committed to ending child poverty and making her country the best place in the world to be a child. Her compassion, integrity, relatability and efforts to empower kids to share their points of view on the future of New Zealand, makes Jacinda the perfect recipient of Nickelodeon’s Honorary Local Legend Award.
Celeste Barber
Celeste is an Australian actor, writer, and comedian who recently raised over $51 million for the NSW Rural Fire Service and Brigades Donations Fund via a Facebook fundraiser, sharing the link on her social channels, with a reach of over 1.3 million. In between gathering supplies for displaced Australians and thanking people around the globe for their donations, Celeste showed the personal heartache as her extended family came close to losing their home.
Celeste’s Facebook fundraiser broke the record for the largest ever fundraising effort on the social platform globally. The money raised will help fund the RFS in their efforts to eliminate the devastating bushfires that have been ravaging Australia for months.
A massive congratulations to all Nickelodeon's KCA 2020 Local Legends!
Viewers in Australia and New Zealand can now vote for their favourites across the worlds of film, television, music, pop culture, animation and more at kca.nick.com.au!
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From The Morning Show:
Jack Berne’s Fiver for a Farmer campaign raises $1.6 million for farmers in need
Jack Berne is the 11-year-old schoolboy who made headlines after launching his Fiver for a Farmer initiative.
The rule were easy - come to school dressed as a farmer, and hand in your $5 donation, all in aid of our drought-affected communities.
But news of the simple idea started a nationwide trend - and Jack’s first fiver quickly grew to a staggering $1.6 million.
“I was watching a video about the drought, and I had never heard anything about a drought,” Berne said.
“Water always comes from the tap, but not out there. It was totally different.
“I started researching and decided I should do something about this. So Fiver for a Farmer was my idea, and I sent an email to radio stations and all sorts of things, and it went from there.”
Going global
In January, Jack was awarded an Australia Day award for Outstanding Community Service - and now he’s been awarded Nickelodeon’s Kids Choice Local Legend.
He’s also preparing for his US debut - having filmed an episode of Little Big Shots with Melissa McCarthy.
“It was such a great experience, and Melissa McCarthy is the nicest person in the world,” Berne said.
“It was amazing, and everyone there was really nice and it was super fun.
“It was really cool to see what the other kids do as well. I met so many cool people who do so many amazing things, and I was really happy to be on the show.”
For more details on Fiver for a Farmer, click here - and find out more about Nickelodeon’s Kids Choice Awards here.
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From 4BC:
Ben Fordham stops coronavirus from destroying 11yo’s ‘trip of a lifetime’
Ben Fordham has helped save Fiver for a Farmer founder Jack Berne’s dream trip from being ripped away from him due to coronavirus fears.
The 11-year-old has raised over a million dollars for drought-stricken farmers and recently won Nickelodeon’s ‘Local Legend’ award.
Nickelodeon agreed to fly Jack and his Mum to Los Angeles for the Kid’s Choice Awards and pay for five nights accommodation.
But due to coronavirus fears, Nickelodeon reneged on the deal refusing to fly Jack over, after his mother had already purchased two extra tickets so the whole family could visit Disneyland.
Ben Fordham has reached out to the TV network and managed to save Jack’s trip, with Nickelodeon agreeing to honour the original prize.
Ben says it’s the right decision.
“The Kid’s Choice Awards will most likely be scaled back in some way and may involve a limited studio audience.
“But the main thing is Jack and his family still get to go on the trip of a lifetime and they get to go to Disneyland.”
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More Nick: Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards 2020 International Nominees and Airdates!
Originally published: Tuesday, February 25, 2020.
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