Children help children through nickels for nets

When children set their minds to helping others they can inspire us all, as two stories of gifts to the Nickels for Nets project illustrated recently.

Mission Camp at First Presbyterian Church, Marietta, Ga., was a lot of fun judging by the happy faces of these young participants. Photo courtesy of First Presbyterian Church, Marietta, Ga.

In Georgia, a children’s mission effort proved to be a big success in a big hurry. When elementary-age youngsters at First Presbyterian Church in Marietta learned about malaria at Summer Mission Camp they set an ambitious goal for themselves: to raise enough money to purchase 200 mosquito nets for children in Africa through the Nickels for Nets project. That many mosquito nets would cost approximately $2,000, and Summer Mission Camp was only four days long.

Alesia Jones, children’s ministry director at the church, summed up the kids’ challenge: “They had FOUR DAYS!! But God has such a sense of humor — the theme of our camp this year was Luke 1:37, ‘For nothing is impossible with God.’ And did He ever show us!”

The kids began their Mission Camp project on a Monday, and with the help of their parents they organized bake sales, ran lemonade stands, did chores at home for pay, canvassed their neighborhoods for donations and opened their piggy banks. By Thursday, the last day of camp, the youngsters had collected more than $1,100 in their Nickels for Nets coin banks. Inspired by their children’s efforts, several adults in the congregation made generous donations that pushed the total over the $2,000 mark.

Nickels for Nets coin banks made by youngsters at Summer Mission Camp.Photo courtesy of First Presbyterian Church, Marietta, Ga.

In Michigan, a special education student urged his classmates to buy mosquito nets for children in Africa, and his teacher, a member of First Presbyterian Church of Dearborn, helped her students accomplish that through the Nickels for Nets project.

Each year Lynn Hoffman, a teacher at Shumate Middle School in Rockwood, Mich., helped her students raise money by selling pencils. Proceeds from the pencil sale would benefit a charitable project and fund a pizza party for the students at the end of the school year. During the past school year eighth grader Kurtis Graham told Ms. Hoffman he had seen a public service broadcast about the need for mosquito nets in Africa, and he thought the class should find a way to buy mosquito nets.

Kurtis rallied his classmates around the idea of purchasing mosquito nets with the money from the pencil sale. Ms. Hoffman found out how nets can be purchased through PC(USA)’s Nickels for Nets project. Kurtis’ classmates responded enthusiastically to his idea and even agreed to forego their pizza party so that more money could go toward buying nets. Inspired by one student, the donation from Ms. Hoffman’s class in Michigan will help safeguard the health of youngsters in Africa.