Global Mission Stories
from ELCA Global Mission

Young girls' efforts raise funds for Stand With Africa

"We like going to carnivals," said Allison, "and we thought it would be fun to do one." So, Allison, age 9, and her friends Samantha (10) and Kathleen (7), all from a Chicago suburb, planned a carnival of their own.

Thinking up the games was an easy part, with croquet, bowling, horseshoes, and rubber ducks with numbers under them. They even created a calendar time line, starting with the beginning of the year, to determine what needed to be done. But when they needed to find a charity to support, they didn’t know where to turn to.

Samantha’s mother gave the children a little idea. She is not an ELCA member, but through a friend she had one of the bottlecap pins used by the ELCA World Hunger Appeal. She gave the details to the children and they took it from there. "We wanted to collect money for where those pins came from," Samantha said.

In addition to games, the three children contacted their local Dairy Queen to get a donation of treats to sell. "We had to write a letter explaining what we were doing," said Samantha. "We were going to go for 50 Dilly Bars, but then cut it back to 40 because we thought they wouldn’t all sell."

Posters and flyers were prepared for their big day. "We even made our own tickets," said Kathleen. The carnival itself was in the driveway of one of the girl’s home.

It was a hit. Admission was charged, carnival-goers paid for game tickets, and the Dilly Bars all sold out. The total raised: $50.

Samantha, Allison and Kathleen personally delivered the check to the ELCA Churchwide Offices on July 18. With no previous connection with the Lutheran church, these three young women contributed to efforts by the church to alleviate hunger, combat HIV/AIDS, and work for justice in Africa through the Stand With Africa campaign.

Copyright © 2002 Evangelical Lutheran Church in America ELCA Global Mission

E-mail us if you have questions or comments.

BACK TO Global Mission Stories index page.

© Evangelical Lutheran Church in America | Privacy Policy | Terms of Use