photo john mcdonagh

ANGEL MESSENGERS —
Christ Church, Cranbrook Sunday school present a Christmas pageant.

The Sunday school at Christ Church has done it again. For the last three years, these young people have challenged the parish to think beyond themselves at the Christmas season. In 2007, they organized a project with the Mennonite Central Committee to send goats to Jordan, Kenya and India. They set a goal of 16 goats at a cost of $30 each. They ended up sending 86 goats — $2580.

In 2008, they partnered with Father Raphael Mponda, Anglican priest in the village of Blantyre in southern Malawi, to provide water filters for Blantyre. The original goal was to raise enough money for 80 filters, at $30 per filter. They ended up raising enough money for 136 filters — $4080.

This year, they partnered with Father Raphael again. They asked him what the children in Blantyre needed. The most urgent needs were mosquito nets and school supplies — nets to keep the children safe from malaria-carrying mosquitoes at night, and school supplies to help them learn. They developed a kit with the nets and supplies, determined the cost of each kit to be $8, and set a goal. They would provide a kit for each of the 501 children in the school in Blantyre — $4008.

They publicized the project in the church; many people bought these kits as a form of alternative giving. The church provided gift cards, to let recipients know that kits were purchased in their name.

They publicized the project in Cranbrook; townspeople came to the church office, wanting to get involved. Some young people from the local high school heard about the project, and decided to get involved, raising funds at school. Final numbers have yet to come in ... but we have raised enough to provide more than 565 kits — over $4500.

It's been an amazing thing. The children of our Sunday school have helped us catch a vision of what we might be able to do. Most amazing of all is that people with little or no connection to our parish want to get involved in this project. Truly ... a child shall lead them.