St. Vincent students grow money and help others
By Sara Weikel, The ValleyJournals (April 1, 2010)

Kristi Deffner participated with her 2nd grade class at St. Vincent de Paul School in the "Pay it Forward" project throughout March. She made nearly 11 dozen oatmeal chocolate chip cookies and sold them in front of Walmart. After taking out her cookie-making expenses, she had $36.75 to give to the orphans at the International Humanity Foundation Kenya Children's Home.

Students at St. Vincent de Paul School recently discovered how to grow money. It may sound like a superpower, but all it took was some hard work and dedication to a cause they believe in.

At the beginning of March, Rhea Hristou challenged each of her 2nd grade students to find creative ways of turning $5 into $15 so the money could be used to sponsor a child in Kenya for a year. The students spent the month growing their "seed money" by selling art, brownies, cookies, birdhouses and steamer poppers, doing extra chores, holding yard sales and lemonade stands, and more.

"If we just ask them for $15, and their parents give them $15, it isn't meaningful," Hristou said.

The students' efforts will provide a full sponsorship for a child living at the International Humanity Foundation Kenya Children's Home, a school and orphanage in Nakuru, Kenya. The full sponsorship will provide food, clothing, medical and educational costs for the child for one year. The child has not yet been chosen, but he or she will be around 10 or 11 years old, not closer to the class's age. That's because an older child will more likely have enough command of English to be able to be a pen pal to the class, said Demetra Davis, who is co-director of the orphanage and Hristou's niece.

"The children at St. Vincent's will definitely be making a difference in a child's life here," Davis said.

The children live at the orphanage because they have either lost their parents, been abandoned or abused, she said. Many of them also had no previous opportunity to attend school.

"With IHF's orphanage and education center in Nakuru, they are able to have an education and a safe childhood," she said.

Hristou's class may be able to sponsor more than one child, depending on how much funding is raised.

"I think they all gained an awareness of helping to take care of people that are less fortunate then themselves," said Michelle Roberts, one of the class moms.

Her daughter spent quite a few hours making and selling more than 20 window art pieces. As of press time, she had turned her $5 into $40, and still had more art to sell.

"She's motivated and she's thinking about others," Roberts said.

The International Humanity Foundation is a nonprofit organization with no religious or political affiliations that works to educate impoverished people in Indonesia, Thailand and Kenya.

Photos courtesy of The Valley Journals