Talk about “out of the mouths of babes…”
ETA: The fundraising goal was met in 18 hours. I dunno ’bout you, but I’m blown away. Feel free to give anyway - all funds over and above the original goal go to similar projects. Read the full story below (if you haven’t already).
From Jon Acuff at Stuff Christians Like*:
Out of nowhere, my daughters will say something that is punch you in the stomach profound and then do a ballet twirl and go play with dolls.
That’s just how they get down on a fairly regular basis, but one particular thing my oldest daughter said more than a year ago is refusing to let me go.
We were looking at a book on storms and came to a page about drought and famine. In the corner was a little boy who was starving. His ribs were sticking out and flies covered his small face. I kept flipping the pages but L.E. made me stop and return to that one. She asked, “What’s that?” I told her, “That’s a little boy who doesn’t have enough food to eat.” She thought for a few seconds and then responded, “That’s not real though. That’s pretend, right?”
Good lord. That’s one of those moments where parents get the depressing but altogether necessary job of crushing their child’s innocence. Yes, honey, it’s real.
When Jon’s daughter L.E. said that to him, he had something of an epiphany, and started thinking about what he could do to make things that shouldn’t be real… well, not real. Stuff Christians Like is an amazingly popular blog, and it occurred to him that maybe, instead of just using the internet to become quasi-famous and promote his new book, he could use his blog to do something really awesome for little kids who need some awesomeness.
Which is the short version of how Jon came to be raising $30,000 for a kindergarten in Vietnam. You can read about the project here and here, and you can donate here.
Just in case you’re wondering, Samaritan’s Purse, the organization through which Jon is raising this money and who will be doing the “real” work of building the orphanage, is a Charity Navigator 4-star organization, which means that they’re really efficient in using the money you give to do what they say they’re going to do. About 88 cents from every dollar donated goes directly to the project it’s earmarked for. So you can give to this project and know that you’re not actually donating money to the build-the-Acuffs-and-big-new-house fund or give-crazy-televangelists-more-dollars-for-annoying-telethons fund. Now that’s peace of mind.
And lastly, I just have to stand up and applaud Mr. Acuff for doing something so positive with his net-fame. Blogging is, in many ways, a totally self-interested occupation. We bloggers write posts about things that are important to us (and usually ONLY to us), and we welcome the accolades of strangers from around the globe telling us how clever and funny and thought-provoking we are. Some people actually make money from blogging (I have got to figure out how they do that, because honestly? Getting paid to talk about myself is my dream job). This is not to say that bloggers never write with a higher purpose in mind, such as raising awareness about certain issues, or encouraging people, or just making the noise on the net a little less negative. But this is the first time** that I’ve seen a blogger use his/her platform to do something big and awesome, and I’m real proud of this guy. Which is why I’m giving what little I can to this project.
* Stuff Christians Like is a HILAAAAARIOUS blog about all the goofy crap that somehow came to be part of the churchy experience. If you’ve been part of a Protestant/Evangelical church for any amount of time, you’ll “get” SCL and you’ll LOVE it.
** Okay, that’s not true. Every year during Blogathon, bloggers the whole world over use their words to make a difference. However, this is the first time I’ve seen someone with real “blog-fame” use that fame for something so good. I’m sure others have done it before - this is just the first time I’m aware of it.
