Fundraiser in chief

Two weeks ago, the Sunday school kids at our church decided that they wanted to try to raise enough money ($715) to “buy” a family farm through the ELCA Good Gifts catalog. This gift would provide a farm family with livestock, tools, training and marketing support to help get them on their feet and sustainable. It’s also an ambitious goal for a group that is comprised mainly of 3 and 4 year olds. 


Ethan volunteered to make a poster to tell people in the congregation about the project. Of course, we procrastinated … and didn’t get started on the poster until Saturday night. Needless to say, the process went swimmingly (not so much). But eventually we agreed on a plan, found and colored some clip art, and assembled a poster telling about the project, and a “how much we’ve raised” thermometer to be filled in each week.


When we got to church with the poster the next morning, our pastor who initiated the project was not there, and no one else really knew what we were doing. So I suggested that Ethan take his poster to the other Sunday school classes to show the kids what he had done (I mean, I forced him to work on it the night before, he should get some glory for it), and before the service we found a place to prop it up where people might see it.


After the service, while I was chatting with some friends, suddenly I see Ethan up in front with Pastor Craig, microphone and poster in hand. After Pastor Craig got everyone’s attention, Ethan, who won’t do anything that involves being up in front of people, took the microphone and told everyone about the project and how much we were trying to raise, and asked everyone for donations. 


Then he worked the crowd (which Ethan is very good at doing) with his friend Amanda, and together they collected $120 toward the cause. 


This past week, we didn’t go to Sunday school or the service, but headed over to church for the Christkindle market in the afternoon. Ethan was worried when I told him we were going to miss church that no one would do any fundraising for the farm. So when we walked in the door, he immediately started asking around about it. Sure enough, he was right. (“I told you I should have been there.”)


However, not one to waste a good room, Ethan talked up his project (and I do think of it as his project) some more, and got another $20 donation. I then found out that another woman had brought $50 for their collection, which I told Ethan. He was ecstatic. “Now we’re up to $190!”


He’s already planning to hit the fundraising hard after church next week, and if he keeps this up, they may actually succeed. The kids are supposed to be collecting change in little barn banks they got that first week. They have until Christmas to bring those in. And I suspect Ethan will keep encouraging the adults at church to contribute until their goal is reached. 


It’s fun to see him so passionate about something, and such a good something too.