Share the Love – Save a Life

I am the Director of a daycare at St. James UMC in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.  One of our staff members recently returned from a Missions trip to Tanzania and spent time showing trip photos to our kids.  The kids had a lot of questions about the unfamiliar nets seen in the photos.  They were shocked to hear about mosquitoes in Africa carrying a deadly disease called malaria.  We explained that the nets are the only protection African children have against the mosquitoes and one of our kids thought we should donate money to buy nets for the children in Africa. 

For Valentine’s Day, instead of exchanging Valentine cards or candy, we collected money for bed nets!  It was asked that each child donate $5.00 and the daycare would match their donation so we could purchase a net in each child’s name who chose to donate.  When a child would make a donation, we put his or her name on a heart and hung it on the wall for everyone to see!  We collected $205.00 from the children, and with the daycare’s matching donation of $205.00, we have mailed a check to Nothing But Nets for $410.00!  We called our campaign, “Share the Love-Save a Life.”  It was the perfect Valentine’s Day celebration!