UPDATED: Trenton Girl Turns to Popular Website for Trip to Australia

Arthurs Middle School seventh grader Shelby Fox was recently selected by the People to People Ambassador Programs to represent Trenton as a student ambassador to Australia.

Cool right?

There's just one problem. She doesn't have enough money to pay for the trip.

Fox, 12, turned to a website called Peerbacker.com to help her raise $2,500 for her trip.

So far, she hadn't had much support. In fact, she hadn't raised a single penny on the website by Monday evening.

So far, Fox had received more than $4,000 towards her $6,500 goal from local businesses and other fund-raising efforts, according to her mother Tahnia Fox.

"The kids are encouraged to do the fund-raising themselves as part of the program," Tahnia Fox said. "They want the kids to be part of the process before mom and dad pay their way."

Fox was selected to take an educational trip to Australia on June 20 with several other students her age from communities across southeast Michigan.

That is, if she can get there.

Fox was expected to speak to Trenton Public Schools Board of Education members Monday night to help spread the word about her efforts to raise money for her trip and to ask for help.

Fox wrote a letter to board members asking for "scholarship assistance" for "educational opportunities."

"I have been selling candy bars, doing bottle drives and reaching out to local businesses and organizations," Fox stated in the letter.

Anyone interested in donating can visit peerbackers.com/projects/koalas-and-roos-2013 or mail funds to 2424 Fourth Street in Trenton.

*This article was updated at 6:15 p.m. April 26.

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