Seven dollars and fifty-one cents Saturday, February 20, 2010

Seven dollars and fifty-one cents doesn't sound like much to us here in the U.S.A., but to some people it means the difference between eating or going hungry.

Six year old Elias from El Salavador had a small, hollow clay chicken with a slot in the top and a hole in the bottom. It was a Central American version of a piggy bank, but young Elias saw it as the perfect Jesus Jar. He put tape on the bottom so that the coins he dropped in the top wouldn't fall out. Then he started to save. Money is scarce in that part of the world, so it took quite a while to add up. He was excited about getting to help with a Young Foundations project, or maybe pay for a few books; some of those books might even find their way back into his own country! But it wasn't quite time just yet.

Elias's family is poor, so poor they sometimes don't even know where their next meal is going to come from. This was one of those times. Elias volunteered his Jesus Jar money to help buy food for his family. He had to start saving all over again, but he was happy to do it. It didn't take long before that hollow chicken began to get pretty heavy again. He knew it was finally time to send his humble offering to VGR.

click to enlarge

When the tape on the bottom was finally removed, it revealed the dirty coins and bills that told Elias's story. 7 quarters, 18 dimes, 36 nickels, 16 pennies, and 2 tightly-folded dollar bills. The total was seven dollars and fifty-one cents. It may not seem like a lot, but to young Elias, it was a long time coming.