Pupils raise $4400 for grieving family

Jasnoor Kaur, 8, died at at the scene of the crash where a west-bound vehicle was in collision with an east-bound car head-on. Photo/Supplied

More than $4000 was raised by the Katikati community for the family of Jasnoor Kaur who was killed in a car crash last week.

Katikati Primary School and Katikati College held fundraisers for the Kaur family yesterday and together raised about $4400.

David Freeman, Katikati Primary Board of Trustees chairman, said the school had been a "focal point" for members of the community who wanted to do something for Jasnoor's family, as she and the 5-year-old boy injured in the crash, Parmeet Bhaskar, were both students at the school.

"We decided to work together with the college to do something practical for the family, so we pulled the community together to raise some money. We had a mufti day and lots of the kids are wearing pink, which was Jasnoor's favourite colour. We had a sausage sizzle and some local businesses also donated money."

Mr Freeman said the school was conscious that money would not change what had happened, but hoped it would help and let the family know the community was there for them.

Andrea Nicholson, principal of Katikati Primary, said the school raised $2500.

Jorja McKeown, 8, was one of many students decked out in shades of pink. She said she had been friends with Jasnoor as they both used to get to school early in the morning. "She's quite a nice girl. It was quite scary and quite sad and maybe a bit dreadful when we found out. I hope her family can use the money for something good."

Josie Randell, office administrator at Katikati College, said the school's mufti day had raised $1885 for the family.

She said students had been paying their mufti fees with $10 or $20 notes and not taking any change as they wanted to help out.