Kids Raise Money For Kenyan Orphanage

DAYTON - In the heat of the summer sun, it's easy in the Touchet Valley to take water for granted.

But Reverend Marj John- ston of Dayton's First Con- gregational Church knows that isn't the case in some other countries. So she focused the fundraising for this summer's Vacation Bible School, hosted by the First Congregational Church and the United Methodist Church in Dayton, on bringing water to orphans at the Quest for Happiness Orphanage in Nairobi, Kenya.

The participants went above and beyond collecting donations for a project for a rainwater collection barrel as well as collecting food items to donate to the local food bank, Johnston said.

During the week, 25 lo- cal kids participated along with 14 adult volunteers surpassing their goal of collecting 50 food items by bringing in 112 items. They also surpassed their money collection goal by collecting $142.29 for the rainwater barrels, Johnston said.

"It went perfectly," John- ston said. "This was a great partnership and we'll be do- ing it again next year."

The money collected will be sent to a Nairobi orphanage for the purchase of a rainwater collection barrel, which Johnston said will be helpful for people who otherwise struggle to with the amount of water they have access to.

"Water is hard to come by in that part of Africa," Johnston said. "Not every place has enough water for cooking and hygiene."

Johnston said the Bible school focused on how privi- leged U.S. citizens are when it comes to water, which is so basic to life. The group discussed African counties where there is little water, Indonesia where there is too much water and Vietnam where the water is unsafe for consumption.

"The kids had fun travel- ling the world, so to speak," Johnston said.

The group focused on scriptures relating to water as well.

The vacation Bible school met for three hours each day, from 9 a.m. to noon. Johnston said her adult volunteers exerted a lot of energy help- ing with the program.

Together they helped put together an array of activities including games, crafts and memory lessons.

Volunteer and elementary school teacher Susie Payne said she thought the event was a huge success.

"It was great," Payne said. "We were thrilled with the turnout."

Payne was in charge of the craft portion of the week, working in 20-25 minute blocks of time for each activity.

Payne said she led the students in making crafts re- lated to the daily discussion.

"The day we discussed dirty water in Vietnam, we made soap balls so the kids could take them home and wash their hands," Payne said.

Johnston said despite the fact that everyone was ex- hausted, by Friday they were all excited again with how much fun they had.

On Friday, the students and volunteers marched to food donations down to the local food bank.

"The overall experience was awesome," Payne said. "We reached a lot of kids."

Payne said some of the attendees were from out of town so the group had a wide blend of students from the local area and out of the area. The kids were ages three to 12, which Payne said was a great mix.

After the food was de- livered, the students and volunteers had a celebration to mark the end of their successful week.

"We enjoyed working with the Methodist church," Payne said. "They had great volunteers."

Johnston said there may be another event like this during the winter and again during spring break.

"We were really excit- ed about the opportunity," Johnston said.

Sunday school will resume on Sept. 16 at the First Congregational Church.