Gifts From the Heart: Lake Denoon Sends Hope to Nairobi Children

A $2,700 check was presented by students at Lake Denoon Middle School for children they will likely never meet, but their efforts will have taught them what the phrase 'paying it forward' means.

Michael Miller, 8th grade science teacher, brought the idea to fundraise for the Lord's House of Hope in Nairobi, Kenya to the school after talking with his neighbors during a trip up north. The orphanage serves as a home for up to 40 orphans from one of the world's largest slums—Kibera—in Kenya. LDMS students are supporting about 30 students at the House of Hope school there.

Those neighbors,, giving him the idea to involve his students and the school in reaching out to help.

"Imagine, these children walking to school, as much as a mile or more away, every day in the heat, and returning home, often after dark," Judy explained to the students on Wednesday during a visit. "They don't have time to wash their uniforms during the week, and they can't attend school without them, so they have to wear the same thing for five days in a row. This money will buy an extra uniform for them, which will mean the world."

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The students presented a check to the Wilsons at the end of the day, with money raised in part through the selling of wristbands at the school.

"I want you to know you are changing lives by what you are doing," an emotional Judy told the students.

Asked how it felt to help out, student council advisor Brittney Presser said in typical middle school fashion, "pretty awesome."

The Wilsons will be traveling to Kenya on Jan. 8 to present the check there, and hoped soon to have the ability to Skype between the two schools.