Monday, April 14, 2008

Penny Wars for Orphans

My daughter just completed a fundraiser for the Kolfe Youth Center in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in her dorm at college, where she is an RA. It was International Week, and each dorm held a fundraiser for an international charity. After reading about Kolfe on my friend Eileen's blog, Sarah knew she wanted to do something to help.
(read about the Kolfe Youth Center, an orphanage for boys ages 12-18 at
The Forgotten Boys , and watch the slide show here.)

They held a Penny War! Her dorm has 8 floors, with about 36 students per floor. In the lobby, they had a table with a large jar for each floor. All during the week, students could drop pennies into the jar for their floor, and the floor to collect the most pennies at the end of the week won - something - I don't know, a pizza party, maybe. Now the cool twist was that coins other than pennies - nickles, dimes, quarters - were NEGATIVE points in a jar. So students would drop those coins into the jars for other floors, hoping to boost their own floor's chance of winning the prize. At the end of the week, the dorm had raised over $200, which they are sending to the Gladney Center for Adoption's humanitarian aid fund for Kolfe.

Matthew 25:35 -40
Then the King will say to those on his right, "Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me."
Then the righteous will answer him, "Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?"
The King will reply, " I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me."

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