Curtis Christison may be new to the community but as the youth pastor at Maple Park Alliance he’s jumping into activities with the teens in his congregation.
Right now, youth and their leaders are preparing for the 30-Hour Famine fundraiser for World Vision.
“I want to ensure that compassion and social justice are ingrained in Maple Park Alliance youth,” he said.
“So when they showed such enthusiasm for this project there was no way I could say no. I was thrilled.”
Set for April 8 – 9, youth will go to school on the Friday as normal, but refrain from eating any solid food.
They will then gather at the church for an overnight stay where they’ll play games, watch movies but most importantly, not eat. Saturday morning, they’ll share a light breakfast before heading back to their normal life.
Last year, the 30-Hour Famine saw more than 500,000 teens around the world raise more than $30 million to address global hunger, poverty and injustice.
The World Vision 30-Hour Famine goal is to raise money for sustainable development programs which provide things like nutritious food, clean water, child protection and education.
The World Vision 30-Hour Famine began in Canada 40 years ago and is the largest and longest running youth event to fight poverty and hunger in the world.
This year, the Canadian target is to raise more than $4.65 million for World Vision programs.
One World Vision project focused on clean water for a village in Mali.
It was especially bad after the rain. That’s when dirt and contaminants ran into the open well where five-year-old Jean
and his fellow villagers gathered their water.
The water left the boy with diarrhea and painful stomach aches – a dangerous situation for someone so young.
World Vision partnered with Jean’s village to build a mechanized systems for collecting and distributing clean water. Water is electrically pumped from deep underground, up into a water tower. Gravity takes it from there, moving the water to 17 different distribution points.
Now Jean can concentrate on playing instead of worrying about tummy aches.
This is just one of many projects 30-Hour Famine participants help to accomplish.
In the days running up to the event, youth will be looking for sponsorship.
Christison also invites, not only members of the congregation, but the community at large to drop by Maple Park Alliance Church April 8, visit with the kids and encourage them in this worthwhile fundraiser.
For information on how the public can help this fundraiser contact Christison, mpaccurtis@shaw.ca.