RANDOM ACTS OF KINDNESS: DELTA STUDENTS HELP ROMANIAN ORPHANS

Students at the Delta Elementary School are sending their bookbags packing.

This week a number of students are donating their used backpacks to an orphanage in Romania. It's a joint project with the Cornerstone Church in Cape Girardeau.

"Probably 95 percent of these kids would have thrown their backpacks away," said Terry Johnston, director of the Boys and Girls Mission Crusades at the church. "To the kids in this orphanage, these backpacks are gold."

The project is a brainchild of Delta seventh-grader Jessica Livingston, who attends Cornerstone. She heard a talk by Carl Kagle, missions director at the church, who had returned from a trip to Romania.

Kagle, who lives in Cape Girardeau, traveled to Romania with his son-in-law, a minister in Wisconsin and 30 other ministers. They have teamed up with a Wisconsin warehouse that ships out supplies collected for the orphanage several times each year.

The private orphanage serves as home to about 100 children. The country is so poor, said Kagle, that some of the parents bring their children to live at the orphange because they can no longer support them.

"There are a lot of orphans in Romania," he said. "It's one of the poorest countries in the world. The average salary is about $50 a month."

Jessica heard Kagle's talk about his trip, and looked at the faces of the the orphans in photographs. She and Johnston came up with the idea to collect student backpacks.

"These orphans have no way to carry what little they have to school," said Mary Livingston, Jessica's mom, who serves as reading coordinator at the elementary school. She is coordinating the backpack collection, which began last week and continues through today. Jessica is spreading the word in the upper grades.

They're hoping to have at least 100 backpacks to send to Romania from the elementary school.

Mary Livingston said many of the children want to include letters, pictures or drawings in their bag. Many of the students, especially the younger ones, have a hard time comprehending the fact these Romanian children have no parents much less bookbags, desks or buses to ride to school.

One of the Delta students who donated her backpack was Sara Blattel, age 10. "It's nice to help someone who needs help," said the fourth grader. She donated two of her old backpacks and one from her cousin.

Johnston also contacted the Scott City schools, which are also participating in the backpack collection.

Other individuals who wish to donate their backpacks for the orphanage can contact the Cornerstone Church, 922 Koch Ave, at (573) 335-4456. Kim Ferguson is the pastor of the independent Penecostal church, which puts considerable stock in mission projects.

The church sent money to pay for a motorcycle for a missionary in New Guinea. They replaced the number on the motorbike with a photograph of the children who helped raised money to pay for it. The church sent a generator and money to help build a tabernacle to two towns in Africa. Members provide dollars and prayers to a long list of mission projects each month.

Jessica Livingston has a heart for mission work. It's not uncommon for her to donate her extra money to mission projects at the church. "They need it worse than me," she said.

The children's mission program built a giant pretend airplane that they "fly" to mission sites. Johnston said they've been to Somalia to learn about life, and is now in Guam. The latter is where a couple from church is working as missionaries.

Johnston feels it's good for children to learn about needs in the rest of the world. "We take so much for granted," he said. "We're such a blessed country and community."

Kagle said, "I think it's neat that children on one side of the world are helping children on the other side."