Elianne was on a mission. Making her way around her neighborhood, with her big brother by her side, the young girl knocked on door after door.
“Hi, do you have any change?” she asked everyone who answered. “I’m getting money so I can buy a chicken for some people in Africa.”
Elianne is one of ten students from Debbie Freeman’s class who took a math lesson about counting change and turned it into real change for others around the world!
Freeman teaches grades K-3 at her school and decided to have her students paint plastic milk jugs and turn them into piggy banks to practice coin counting. As she made her plans, she realized there was an opportunity to incorporate ADRA’s kids gift catalog into her lesson plans.
In ADRA’s Kids Gift Catalog, Freeman saw how gifts like goats and chickens could be donated to people around the world. She discussed with her students how these gifts could help provide support to a family with income and other benefits.
The students took the milk jug piggy banks home and looked forward to choosing whether the coins they collected would be used for a goat or chickens.
“I felt that our class could probably raise enough for a goat and maybe a few chickens by collecting parents’ spare change,” said Freeman. “I didn’t know how the children would embrace this project and how God would bless!”
The class went above and beyond, bringing back more coins than expected. And when the donations were taken to the bank, the employees there were so inspired by the students that they added donations of their own.
“God’s grand total was $500.00 for ADRA from our little students and a few milk jugs,” said Freeman. “Now the checks are going to ADRA with enough money for 8 goats and 36 chickens!”
It’s possible for anyone to make an impact, including young people with big hearts like these amazing students. Visit ADRA’s Gift Catalog online anytime–our life-changing gifts are available all year long.
