Geralene Beckett, Rancho Santa Margarita (RSM) mother of five, decided she wanted to expand the opportunities for service for her local RSM and Mission Viejo congregation from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
As she was looking on the LDS Charities site she was touched by the video entitled “Hope” that highlights a project that brings clean water solutions to third world countries.
The summer previously her congregation raised over $6,000 for the LDS Charities wheelchair program. This year they raised $8,016 to supply eight villages with a well with safe water.
Mrs. Beckett asked each family to contribute $100 for the project but she encouraged individuals and families to find creative ways to save the money.
Some children donated their allowance, baked cookies, and helped their neighbors. One mother baked bread for employees at work while some teenagers like Morgan Hughes made jewelry and another teenager, Morgan Yee, made headbands and purses to sell to earn money for the project.
A group of young girls ages 8-11 planned a bake sale, which brought in $340.
A group of older young women ages 12-17 gathered baby items for a consignment store and raised almost $400.
The Jacobsen’s family set a goal to raise the money through a combination of service and sacrifice. “Like last year, we decided to give up paying for car washes and doing it ourselves. The kids loved it and we discovered that they were happy to do it every Saturday.”
One local mother commented, “Money has been tight for us this year. We didn’t know if we could contribute to the well water project because every penny has had to go toward paying bills. Somehow our income has stretched just far enough each month. The last week in August I received and unexpected refund check in the mail for $95. I was so excited and started planning a shopping excursion. Then I remembered the well project. How could I go shopping for something frivolous (but fun) when some of our brothers and sisters didn’t have clean water available? We are so grateful that we were given a way to contribute to this wonderful project!”
If you are interested in learning more or donating to the well project just visit www.LDSCharities.org and click on clean water.
http://ldscharities.org/initiatives/clean-water?lang=eng
Karen Lake
