Guests also may try out a tippy-tap device used for hand washing in villages, where donations fund the construction of wells and education on good hygiene, how to build latrines, and how to avoid the spread of germs.
The simulation was built a month ago, and it will remain until the end of the year. It will return next November.
“It just gives people a sense of why we’re raising money,” Senior Pastor Carl Franco said. “It gives people a picture of it, so they can experience it.”
Five years ago, Franco created an initiative called Kingdom Works, challenging members to make sacrificial, one-time gifts to build water wells for villagers in Uganda, Africa.
“We started looking at what are the ways we can make a difference in the world,” he said. “We came across a huge need for safe, clean drinking water.”
That year, they donated $25,000 and built six wells, which each served more than 1,000 people.
Kingdom Works evolved from there to include other outreach missions: to help start-up businesses in Belize, South America; provide low-rent housing for homeless families in Cincinnati; and support local teenagers in Lakota through the Edge Teen Center.
Members of the church have donated nearly half a million dollars to Kingdom Works.
Member Dawn Ficorilli said the church’s mission focus has caused many of them to rethink their spending habits in order to give more.
Last year was an especially meaningful year, she said, because her husband Scott had been out of work for 10 months.
During a difficult discussion with their children, now 13, 10 and 7, they asked if they could spend less on them for Christmas in order to give more to missions.
“They all made me feel really proud because they were like, ‘Sure mom. We don’t need as many toys.’ That was a good mom moment.”
“We do it to help other people, but our whole family agrees that we get so much more out of it than we feel we give to people. It seems like all the outreaches we’ve done, we’ve really built relationships with the organizations and the people ... We’re helping them, but they’re really changing our lives.”
More information visit www.wellspringonline.org.
About the Author