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Local children raise money to buy wheelchair for girl in the Philippines
Posted 1/28/00 by Sara Peterson When the students in the Childrenís Church School at Shepherd of the Valley Lutheran Church in Apple Valley began their last mission project, few were aware of how immeasurable their contributions would be to the life of another child. The students ó age 3 through fifth grade ó first heard the story of an 8-year-old girl last fall through the Childrenís Shelter of Cebu (CSC), a Cambridge, Minn.-based ministry to homeless children in the Philippines. Ginda, an orphan who has lived at the CSC shelter in Cebu, Philippines, since she was 10 days old, was born with severe cerebral palsy and has very limited voluntary movement. She spends most of her time in a wheelchair and requires a lot of individual attention for her eating, bathing and dressing. Ginda is one of the 90 children that CSC cared for during the year, and is one of 12 special needs kids who have lived at the CSC shelter. ìGinda is so disabled that she isnít able to talk,î said Lois Lindberg, director of Childrenís Ministries at Shepherd of the Valley. ìBut she recently got a computer with a huge button that she can push that says, ëHello, my name is Ginda.í Sheís really excited about that because now she can tell people her name.î Ginda has become a very familiar name at Shepherd of the Valley over the last few months. Especially when the children made it their mission to buy her a new wheelchair when they learned she was outgrowing her current one. Because of Gindaís special needs, a new wheelchair was a costly venture ó estimated at about $2,500. But the price tag did not deter the 1,100 students at Shepherd of the Valley. ìIt seemed like the kids really enjoyed collecting the money,î said Shannon Gilligan, an eighth grader at Falcon Ridge Middle School who works as a teacherís assistant in the Childrenís Church School. Each child enrolled in the Shepherd of the Valley Church School Program received a decorative container in which to collect money. The children were encouraged to do odd jobs to earn money. The children brought their containers back to Shepherd of the Valley each week. The progress of the fund-raiser was charted on a bulletin board on which the students ìbuiltî a wheelchair as the funds to buy different pieces of the chair were raised. The students raised the money by Christmas, two months after the fund-raiser started. Lindberg said the children at Shepherd of the Valley have been participating in outreach efforts with the children of Cebu since 1992, but Gindaís wheelchair marked the first big project. ìThey thought it was fun,î Gilligan said. ìIt was nice to see that kids as little as 3 were helping out and that they really cared about how someone else got around.î Alexandra Bane, 10, a fifth grader at Echo Park Elementary, did her part by cleaning around the house. ìIt was kind of interesting that we were going to raise money for a wheelchair,î she said. ìIím happy that we met the goal.î Actually, the students in the Childrenís Church School exceeded their goal by raising $3,000. According to Lindberg, $2,800 went toward Gindaís wheelchair while the remaining $200 went toward a handicap-accessible ramp for a young boy in Dakota County. Gindaís wheelchair is being specially-made by a company in St. Paul, Lindberg said. They are designing it to meet her needs based off of a video of her movements. She should receive the wheelchair shortly, Lindberg said. Ten-year-old Jena Detter, a fifth grader at Greenleaf Elementary School, said she ìdid almost everything possibleî to raise the money from feeding her dog, sweeping the stairs, vacuuming and cleaning toilets. ìI thought it was really cool that we tried to save money for someone who needs it and that we didnít spend the money on toys, but instead a real good cause,î said 10-year-old Sarah Bougie, a fifth grader at Pinewood Elementary. Bougie raised her portion of the money by baby-sitting and doing chores around the house. ìI think itís wonderful that we saved all that money and we can send it to someone who really needs it,î she said. ìI just wish we could see her face (when she gets her new wheelchair).î The studentsí are now busy sponsoring five children from the Philippines. Each grade level has been given a child to sponsor and will write letters, send pictures and pray for them, Lindberg said. Gilligan, who was a former student in the Childrenís Church School, said the wheelchair fund-raiser was a valuable learning experience for the students. ìI think itís a really good fund-raiser for kids,î she said. ìThey might know people with disabilities and theyíre helping out someone they donít know.î For more information about CSC, call 612-689-6558 or write to 102 SW 2nd Ave., Box 247, Cambridge, Minn. 55008.
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