Eight weeks ago, Northam Primary School student Makayla Smith had a goal of collecting 10,000 plastic bottle lids to be used to create prosthetic hands for children in need.
With one week left of her donation period, the selfless 11-year-old has surpassed her initial goal, collecting more than 23,000 lids thanks to the generosity of the Avon Valley and Wheatbelt communities.
The year 5 student called on local businesses to back her endeavour, to support community based not-for-profit Envision, who collect plastic recyclable waste and turn it into filament for 3D printers, then making hands for kids.
Makalya said she was shocked with the response of the community.
"Our original goal was to collect 10,000 lids in 10 weeks," she said.
"I quietly hoped to collect 16,000 lids, which would be enough to make a hand for every child in my classroom, but I didn't really think this would be achievable.
"I wasn't really expecting to achieve my goal of 10,000 lids, so collecting twice as many has been amazing and very surprising.
"I am really stunned at how many people have been collecting for me - the response has been very overwhelming."
Makayla's mother Janelle has extended her thanks to all who had taken part so far.
"Envision Hands have been overwhelmed by support and donations from people all around Australia, and although Envision are not accepting these donations directly, we have been collecting on behalf of Lids4Kids, who are able to store them until Envision are ready for their next intake," she said.
"Lids4Kids are also investigating alternative designs and ideas, which they hope to start creating soon using these lids, all which will benefit children in Australia and throughout the world.
"We've had support from people who live in Perth and who have driven in to town just to give us lids, plus a school in Kununurra had even offered us the lids they've collected.
"So far we've counted over 23,000 lids and we're not finished yet.
"The support from the community has been amazing and we would like to thank everyone for collecting and dropping off lids to Northam Primary School during term 4; there's no way we could have achieved these goals without this support."
Mrs Smith said the process of collecting, washing, drying, sorting and counting had been a lot for Makayla to handle on her own.
"The initial excitement wore off after the first few weeks, but she has managed to stick with it and achieve incredible results," she said.
"Makayla knows how these lids will change the lives of many children around the world, and although this project got difficult for her at times, I would only need to remind Makayla of our end goal and she'd soon get focused again.
"Makayla is naturally a quiet and shy child, so approaching her school principal with this proposition was a huge step for her.
"From then, she personally asked businesses to collect lids for her, and even going on a local radio station earlier this term.
"I think this has helped her confidence overall and she has realised she can conquer more than she ever could have imagined."
Remaining bottle lids and bread clips are asked to be dropped off to Northam Primary School by Friday, December 13.
Mrs Smith is currently looking for someone to take over lids collections next year.