Pleasantville United Church of Christ had a mission this summer. Their mission was to educate their children about the wonderful work of Heifer International and to raise $5,000 so that they could send a Gift Ark to help end hunger and improve the lives of others around the world.  Heifer International is a non-profit organization whose goal is to help end world hunger and poverty through self-reliance & sustainability.  The children learned about Heifer's work to end hunger and improve the lives of small-scale farmers throughout the world during summer church school, vacation bible school and during a summer mission trip to a Heifer’s Learning Center at Overlook Farm in Massachusetts.

In August, Pleasantville Church hosted over 100 children and 60 volunteers for their annual Vacation Bible School program.  This year’s theme was titled “Ark Full of Animals” and their goal was to gain a deeper appreciation of the ways in which Heifer helps people, animals and plants live in harmony . On each of the five days of VBS, the children discovered a different Bible story, country and animal through skits, games, crafts, videos, drama and snacks.  After starting each morning with some lively music, the children had an animal visitor waiting to see them. On Monday, we visited with a 4-day-old cow, Lucy, who was brought to us by the 4-H Club. On Tuesday, we met Miranda and Jethro from Graceful Glen Alpacas and learned how important alpacas or llamas can be. On Wednesday and Thursday, the Bachman family brought their baby goats and chickens to visit with us. Then, on Friday all the children were welcome to bring in their own animal(s) for a “Blessing of the Animals” led by Pastor Amelie Sell. It was a very successful week.  Not only did the children bring in a daily offering, many children also filled up their “ark banks” with their allowance, giving us about $4,000 at weeks end to help raise money for Heifer International. We also had a few contributions from our congregation and quickly met our goal of raising $5,000 for our Ark Full of Animals by mid-September.  This gift provides livestock—two each of pigs, cows, trios of rabbits, donkeys, beehives, sheep, llamas/alpacas, flocks of geese, goats, oxen, flocks of chicks, trios of ducks, trios of guinea pigs, water buffalo, camels and pigs—and training for struggling families worldwide.

The best part about this whole experience was witnessing the children, ages 4 thru 16, work together to help raise money to buy animals for people that need our help.

If you would like information about Heifer International and the work that they do, please visit www.heifer.org or call toll free 800.422.0755.

Reprinted with permission from BucksMont Media, LLC.