Valentine Meyerson, an 11-year-old Year 6 student from Bondi Beach, has raised more than $40,000 for the family of Matilda through a handmade beaded bracelet campaign that began in the days following the 14 December 2025 terror attack at Archer Park and has now reached supporters in Canada, the United States and Israel.
Matilda, aged 10, was the youngest victim of the terror attack on the Chanukah by the Sea Hanukkah celebration that killed 15 people and wounded more than 40 others. Valentine, who lives in Bondi and is close to Matilda’s age, felt compelled to act after watching news coverage of the massacre unfold in her own community. She began handmaking yellow beaded bracelets featuring bee motifs in memory of Matilda and to spread her legacy, with all proceeds going directly to Matilda’s family.
Valentine describes seeing news of the massacre as heartbreaking, particularly because Matilda was around her own age. She says she wants to show the people killed or injured in the terror attack that they are not forgotten and never will be. The attack hit close to home for the Meyerson family, who are part of Bondi’s Russian Jewish community and lost friends in the tragedy. Valentine’s grandfather’s best friends attended the event, and most were shot. He was overseas at the time, or he would have been there too.
Bees on Wrists and a Trip to Disneyland
Valentine’s mother, Lexy Meyerson, says her daughter chose to create the bee bracelets and fundraise for Matilda’s family after being emotionally affected by news reports. The bracelets are symbolic and lasting, with the bee motif a deliberate reference to Matilda’s nickname. What scared Valentine is that Chanukah by the Sea is an event the Meyerson family would normally attend every year. It’s their Jewish Russian community, which makes the tragedy even closer.
The family has received support in the form of supplies from community members in Bondi and in the Southern Highlands where they are temporarily staying during construction at their home. Valentine’s friends and school teachers have assisted with the bracelet-making process. Supporters across Australia, from the east coast to Western Australia, have received the bracelets, and organisers have also delivered them internationally to supporters in Canada, the United States and Israel.
Valentine says that while making the bracelets is hard and repetitive, she feels motivated to continue. What gives her the power to keep going is that she is not putting aside what happened. Her goals are to send Matilda’s sister Summer to Disneyland on a holiday and to expand her fundraising and awareness campaign to stop these things from happening again.
Processing Grief Through Action
Lexy and Alan Meyerson say they are proud of Valentine’s work. They will meet the family in the coming days, and the father says the daughter’s efforts have amazed him. She thinks it will be beautiful for Valentine to meet the family.
In the days following the attack, Valentine wept tears through lighting the menorah. Her father Alan says she was watching a lot of live news in the days after the attack and had been looking for a way to process her sadness and anger. To see a girl around her age as a victim, she took it close to home. She still doesn’t understand how people can do this.
The Peace Hive project and the Matilda Bee Bracelet Project, as Valentine’s initiative has become known, represents one of many community-led responses to the 14 December terror attack. The broader recovery effort continues across Bondi Beach and the surrounding area, with embedded support services now operating through local organisations, a Medicare Mental Health Centre at Bondi Junction providing free confidential services, and a $1 million grants program funding 24 organisations to deliver community-designed mental health and resilience programs.
For anyone still seeking support following the Bondi Beach terror attack, the 24-hour support line on 1800 595 212 directs callers to appropriate services, including crisis response, psychological support and family support, and operates seven days a week including public holidays and Shabbat.
Published 20-February-2026.
