What can you buy for 50 cents in the United States? Not much — maybe a small candy bar. You probably need more than that to get a soda from the machine. Fifty cents won’t buy a movie ticket or a rental from the video store. But one boy found a way to make 50 cents do something really important.
One day Joseph, a fourth grade member of Tirzah Presbyterian Church in Waxhaw, North Carolina, was watching a TV show about the need for HIV/AIDS medications for children in Africa. Many of these medications only cost about 50 cents a day. Yet even this is too expensive for many people in Africa.
What could he do, Joseph wondered? For people with little money, 50 cents is a lot of money. But really, it takes pennies to buy pills. So that's what he named his project — Pennies for Pills. Joseph asked each of the churches in Providence Presbytery to put a large jug at their church during Lent to collect people’s spare change. He put a jar in his elementary school and one at the office of his local newspaper. All during Lent, people who saw the jugs put in their pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters. After Easter, Joseph collected all of the jugs. He rolled the coins and sent the money to a relief agency in Africa.
What can you buy for 50 cents? If you find a way for others to add their two bits’ worth, you can do a lot. You can help children in Africa who are struggling with HIV/AIDS to stay healthy.
Pray for the children in Africa who are struggling to stay healthy.
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