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A War That Helped Everyone
From March 19 to 23, Columbia Adventist Academy was involved in a war—a money war, that is. The purpose was to raise funds to assist ADRA in helping people in need around the world. We students were encouraged to bring to school all the pennies we could gather from under the sofa cushions or anywhere else we were allowed to get them. Classrooms received a point for every penny a student brought in.
We were also encouraged to bring in coins and bills of all types. These were “bombs” that could be dropped into the containers of other classrooms. A nickel subtracted five points from the other classroom’s total, a dime subtracted ten points, a quarter subtracted 25 points and so on.
As the war grew in popularity, so did the amount of change in the containers. We were surprised to see that after two days more than $140 was raised. That amount doubled by day three, and by day four we raised more than $600. When the cease-fire was declared on the fifth morning, we were amazed to learn we had raised more than $1038!
We weren’t the only ones excited about this war, parents also brought in large jars of coins for students to use as ammunition. In the hallways before and after school, parents could be heard planning their strategies to help their child’s room. It was plain to see they were enjoying themselves just as much as we were.
The classes that raised the most money and earned the most points were promised a pizza party. Mrs. Doying’s kindergarten classroom won both, even though they had the smallest number of students. Their class decided to invite the two other rooms to join them for one big pizza party. Everyone was in favor of that!
The teachers determined that the money will be used to purchase the following gifts through ADRA: five beehives for better lives in Niger, clean water and sanitation for five students in Togo, clean water for two families in Sri Lanka, two medical kits for health clinicians in the Philippines and 50 books to help build a library in Nepal.
In a real war, nobody wins and everyone loses. In our war we had a lot of fun, learned more about the global outreach of our church and made a difference in the lives of people who are less fortunate. Many lives will be permanently improved as a result of our battle. Don’t you wish all wars could end this way?