The Buy Back Bermuda Campaign would be over if all of Bermuda copied a group of students who raised over $10,000 for the environmental project.

One hundred and sixty students at St. George's Preparatory School raised a whopping $10,500 for the campaign run jointly by the Bermuda Audubon Society and the Bermuda National Trust.

Buy Back Bermuda aims to raise $2.5 million to buy and preserve 11 acres of open space comprising Eve's Pond in Hamilton Parish and land near Evans Bay Pond, Skroggins Hill, Southampton.

In a letter to the school, Dr. David Saul, who heads up Buy Back Bermuda, wrote: "I am still in shock at the magnitude of the children's efforts to raise money for the Buy Back Bermuda campaign. For such a small number of children to raise $10,500 is almost unbelievable."

With 160 students involved in the project the numbers divided up into approximately $65 per child.

"If every adult in Bermuda who claimed to care about the environment were to match the students of St. Georges Preparatory the Buy Back Bermuda Campaign could close next week," Dr. Saul wrote.

He also said that although the school was small in size, they were big in heart.

The idea for the fundraising campaign at the school was the idea of teacher Marina Resendes.

"St. George's Preparatory School started raising money in October after I read about the Buy Back Bermuda campaign in a weekend paper," said Mrs. Resendes. "I didn't take part in the last one. The first time I had even been aware of the campaign was when I saw the article.

"It is extremely important to save open space for our children and grandchildren to come."

The first thing Mrs. Resendes did was bring her idea to the attention of other staff members.

"Once I got the staff onboard we introduced it to the students in an assembly with Dr. David Saul presenting," said Mrs. Resendes. "To be quite honest, I thought we would raise $2,000 to $3,000.

"The students were excited when we passed $5,000. In the assembly hall we kept track of how much we were raising each month.

"Once we reached our goal, we just kept on going. Then the goal was $10,000 and then we passed that."

The Bermuda National Trust (BNT) recently recognised the students' efforts with a special environmental award.

Through helping with the campaign, Mrs. Resendes said St. Georges Preparatory students had learned a lot.

"I think they have learned the importance of keeping Bermuda Beautiful and the importance of keeping some areas open for nature reserves," she said. "The children do enjoy exploring and playing outdoors."

Fundraising started with bake sales. Each class baked goodies once a week.

Primary six students made pom-poms with teacher Tara McKittrick out of crepe paper.

Teacher Jane Benevides spearheaded hot dog lunches.

"That was a really good fundraiser," said Mrs. Resendes. "Then we also had popsicles. They were especially popular in May and June when it was hot."

A trashathon in March raised $1,591.

"We cleaned up in St. George's with the St. George's Corporation," said Mrs. Resendes.

"Anna Perry Smith invited us to join and suggested we use it as a fundraising event for Buy Back Bermuda."

A walkathon in May also raised several thousand dollars and was probably the school's most successful fundraiser.

"To other schools thinking of working on a fundraising project, my advice would be just get started," said Mrs. Resendes. "I was pleasantly surprised at the amount of support that we received from parents and the community.

"Without their help we couldn't have achieved our final goal of $10,000.

"The final $500 came from the board of trustees.

"We have also had various parents make donations to Buy Back Bermuda. The parents did get on board too. I think that was why we were so successful. I think the amount of support we had was tremendous."

Shortly before school ended, Dr. Saul came to the school to collect the money and talk to the children.

It wasn't the first time St. George's Preparatory School raised money for a good cause.

One year the school, headed by principal Mary Lodge, raised money for an orphanage in Africa. Another year, the school raised money for victims of the Tsunami.

Many other schools and organisations have also been involved in the Buy Back Bermuda campaign.

The 19th Bermuda Cub Scouts held a trashathon fundraiser and donated $2,550 to Buy Back Bermuda.

The event was held as part of their 50th anniversary celebration. The Cub Scouts were particularly eager to help with the project because they use nature reserves for their programmes.

"The Buy Back Bermuda Committee is very excited about the support we have had from young people in Bermuda, in all kinds of ways," said Karen Border, secretary of the Bermuda Audubon Society.

"There seemed to be so many good stories about how young people have been helping the campaign that it has been hard to know how to publicise them all.

"It is very positive that so many young people see the value in preserving open space."

Other schools which have raised money for the Buy Back Bermuda Campaign include the Bermuda High School for Girls, Heron Bay Primary, Port Royal Primary, Somersfield Academy and Mount Saint Agnes Academy. "Between them, they have raised $4,250," said Mrs. Border.

"There have also been individual kids that have donated to Buy Back Bermuda in place of getting birthday gifts.

Almost $2 million has been raised since last November but they still have $500,000 left to go. This is the second Buy Back Bermuda campaign. In 2005, Buy Back Bermuda raised $1.7 million for a piece of land next to Somerset Long Bay. The land has now been turned into a park and nature reserve.

Send donations to Buy Back Bermuda to PO Box HM 61, Hamilton, HM AX.