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| The Sunday School Kids of Gilford and Churchill United Churches, served up a fundraising Pasta Dinner on October 29. |
By Miriam King
The Churchill and Gilford United Church Sunday School Children first started raising funds for Sleeping Children Around the World (SCAW) in 2000. They brought pennies from home, and collected loose change from the congregation, and made enough money to purchase two bedkits for children in Uganda.
SCAW, founded in 1970 by Murray and Margaret Dryden, uses 100% of donated funds to put together bedkits for children in developing and impoverished nations. Each $35 bedkit includes a matt or mattress, pillow, sheet, blanket, mosquito netting (if applicable), outfit of clothes, towel, and school supplies. Since its inception, Sleeping Children Around the World has provided bedkits to children in 33 countries.
The Churchill/Gilford Sunday School Children have continued to raise funds for SCAW, purchasing 5 bedkits in 2003, 10 in 2005, 23 in 2007 - and expanding their fundraising efforts. Apple pie sales were introduced in 2007, and in 2008, the kids hosted their first Pasta Supper, raising enough to send 30 bedkits to India.
Last year - during the peak of the Recession - they could buy 25 kits.
This year, with the help of John's No Frills in Alcona, which donated the pasta, and the Alcona Sobeys, which donated buns, they hosted their Pasta Dinner at Gilford United Church on Oct. 29, hoping to raise enough for 40 kits, to mark the 10th Anniversary of kids helping kids.
