A Creative Plan
Ellie is a 10-year-old girl who lives in Ohio with her parents, little brother and two little sisters. She loves going to her home-school group every week to see her friends there. There’s something else Ellie loves doing: making art. This is the story of how she used her love of art to help a child in need.
Earlier this year, Ellie decided she wanted to sponsor a child. She had three main reasons:
1. She feels sad that some kids in the world don’t have all the food they need.
2. God wants everyone to have what they need, no matter where in the world they live. “In the Bible, God said that people should be equal. And I feel like that should be true,” Ellie says.
3. Her family loves helping kids: They adopted Ellie’s little sister, and they have also fostered other kids who needed a home!
Last year Ellie’s church (where her dad is the pastor) held Compassion Sunday — an event that helps find sponsors for children in poverty. That’s where she learned about a girl named Merlin who lives in Indonesia. Merlin is the same age as Ellie, and she needed a sponsor.
Ellie had an idea for how she could raise money to sponsor Merlin: by doing something she loves doing anyway. Ellie enjoys making art, especially with oil pastels: “I really like using them and blending them together. So I started using them for pictures.”
She started creating colorful artwork and selling it to relatives. Then she and her parents went to a Christian-owned business in town.
“It’s a little store owned by a couple in town,” Ellie says. “We came in to see if we could sell my artwork there, and they said yes.”
Now customers can choose how much money they want to donate in exchange for taking home Ellie’s art. Thanks to her creative idea and artwork, Ellie has been sponsoring Merlin ever since.
Merlin gets to go to a Compassion center for Bible lessons, food, health checkups, playtime and more. Thanks, Ellie!