Students in the eighth grade have taken it upon themselves to give to those less fortunate than them.  They have decided to build a well for an extremely poverty stricken community in Africa (the actual community is yet to be determined).  Although teachers and parents are assisting these students, the students feel that they should be in charge of this venture and allow the responsibility of raising money be left to them.

“This is entirely a student led project.  The eighth grade Bible classes were on a unit focused on how to love others well.  The classes discussed who their neighbor was and how to love them better,” said Steve Hall, head of middle school.

During these discussions, one class came up with the idea to raise thousands of dollars and build a well for a community in Africa.

“It is a deep well, so it will provide a lot of clean water for a suffering community. There are a lot of diseases that can be prevented from this one well. It will save many people a lot of time.  Many children will be able to attend school instead of spending their time getting water,” said Paris Hubler, eighth grade.

The eighth grade class discussed many different opportunities to give to others before deciding on building a well.  Students met up for a meeting in the room of Nathan Talley, eighth grade Bible teacher, and discussed all the possibilities of how they could give to people who are less fortunate than them.  During this meeting, they decided that building a well would be their project.

“Everyone was pretty pumped about doing something as we began to learn more and more about what it meant to truly give,” said Hubler.

A few students have taken it upon themselves to lead this project for their class. Hubler has been working as a leader along with fellow students Dean Karanas, Jake Mitchell, and Alex Lawrence.

“We get together for lunch meetings and make sure our ideas work with other students who really want to make a difference,” said Hubler.

They discussed together how they were going to raise the money needed to build a well.  In order to build this well, ten thousand dollars must be raised.

“90% of the $10,000 goes to the actual well and labor. The other 10% goes to buying Bibles & teaching that community about Christ,” said Hubler.

The class is able to build this well through a organization called Samaritan’s Purse International Relief (http://www.samaritan.org/).  Samaritan’s Purse provides multiple relief programs for victims of war, disease, natural disasters, and famine in countries suffering from poverty all around the world.

Samaritan’s Purse Mission Statement says, “Samaritan’s Purse is a nondenominational evangelical Christian organization providing spiritual and physical aid to hurting people around the world. Since 1970, Samaritan’s Purse has helped meet needs of people who are victims of war, poverty, natural disasters, disease, and famine with the purpose of sharing God’s love through His Son, Jesus Christ.  The organization serves the Church worldwide to promote the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.”

Samaritan’s Purse helps suffering communities, spreading the good news of Jesus Christ within them.  This organization ministers to the people that they help, telling them about God’s love and encouraging them to have a relationship with Him.

“I think the eighth grade has been moved and motivated to achieve this well because we are growing into our responsibility as Christians to spread Christ’s love and are just starting to see the brokenness of the world,” said Hubler.

The eighth grade class is prepared and excited to now begin spreading the word about their project to the rest of Westminster and getting the entire student body involved in raising money for this well.

“They are hoping to get the word out in a variety of ways such as a video to the whole school, reminders in the morning announcements, and information about this project in the weekend news sent to parents of W.C.A students,” said Hall.

Before sharing their idea with the whole school, members of the eighth grade class conveyed this plan to the seventh grade.  Seventh graders were asked to donate money towards the well that would have been used to purchase a Christmas gift for themselves. A little over 2,000 dollars was raised.

Now, eighth graders plan to spread the word about this project with the upper school sometime in January.  The time for raising money will end on February 14, Valentines Day.