THE Wangaratta Lions Club have donated $3000 to help athletes from Wangaratta District Specialist School (WDSS) achieve their dreams at the All Schools Championships in Brisbane.

The championships will take place from December 6 to 8 and the money donated by the Lions club will go towards the flights of the five students and their guardians.

Lions club president Tom Little said they decided to donate to them as they want to help local children reach their goals.

“The Lions club are big on helping the local community especially children that have grown up in the local community,” he said.

“If they can go to the games in Brisbane with our support and have a good time it’s all well worthwhile.”

Coach of the WDSS team, Rowan Barrow, said they were extremely grateful for the generous donation, as the costs for Brisbane are all self-funded.

“It was an amazing, generous donation that will go towards each of these costs to the families with a massive help to the families to make sure that these kids get to compete,” she said.

“Our school has never done anything like this before, this is huge for our community and obviously the regional community, so we appreciate it very much.”

Ms Barrow said being able to compete in the championships is a dream come true for the students.

“The students are really excited and when they get to the track, I can just see them turn into these amazing athletes,” she said.

“There’s so much raw talent here and I can see potential para-athletes in the future which we love to see.”

Three of the students have set up GoFundMe’s to cover the rest of the costs that come with competing in Brisbane.

If you would like to donate to Dylan Vescio, Lara Pearson or Victoria Liang's GoFundMe’s visit https://gofund.me/2eb75f13, https://gofund.me/2eb75f13 or https://gofund.me/b815cc19.