7-year-old plans fundraiser for Africa

Elise Cooper of Butler Twp. is planning a carnival to raise $4,000 to fund a well.

Elise Cooper

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Staff Writer 5:48 PM Monday, July 6, 2009

BUTLER TWP. — Seven-year-old Elise Cooper says she didn’t realize until last December that some people in Africa had only dirty water.

“Our church had The AIDS Experience, a big walk-through display, and I saw this video called Step Into Africa about clean water,” says the Tipp City youngster. “If you don’t have clean water, you can die or get very, very sick.”

Elise says she kept thinking about that World Vision video and began to wonder how much it would cost to build a well in Africa. She found her answer: $5,400.

With the help of her mom, Pastors Marie Smith and Duane Anders, and members of Stillwater Methodist Church, she’s already collected $1,400.

The next step: a carnival slated for Saturday, July 11, at Stillwater on Miller Lane, the church’s newest campus.

“The money from the carnival is going to go to my well,” Elise says. “We’ll give it to World Vision, they’ll take it to Africa and drill the well.”

The carnival will have a dunking booth, snow shack, garage sale and an inflatable slide. The volunteer sign-up poster at the church already has 40 signatures.

Barbara Cooper says she’s extremely proud of her daughter. “The fact that Pastor Marie and Pastor Duane have sold her to the congregation as an example of having a heart like Jesus makes me especially proud,” she says.

“We believe that all people matter to God and that God has appointed us as stewards of our resources. Those of us in the States have so much more than people in most other countries. We really think it’s our responsibility to reach out and meet those needs.”

The Rev. Marie Smith says it’s been neat to watch people of all ages drop their change into the bucket each week.

“Here is a little girl with little hands dreaming a big vision and inspiring other people around her to help,” she says.

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2440 or MMoss@DaytonDailyNews.com.

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