Spare change puts girl in saddle
10 Jun 2008
by: Sharon Salyer, Herald Writer
Thanks to coins collected at the Everett Gospel Mission, a homeless teen will get her wish to attend horse camp.
EVERETT -- A 13-year-old girl living with her mom and sisters at an Everett homeless shelter will get to attend horse camp this summer due to generosity from an unusual source.
Residents and staff of the Everett Gospel Mission's men's shelter have pooled their pennies and other loose change for about 18 months, gradually filling one 20-inch tall bottle-shaped container and nearly filling another.
The best-guess estimate is that the coins, mostly pennies, add up to between $200 and $250.
That's enough to underwrite most of the cost of sending the teen, Shauna White, now living across town at the organization's women and children's shelter, to horse camp for a week.
The men's shelter offers food and a place to sleep to about 130 homeless men a night. "Ninety-nine percent of these guys don't have a lot of money," said Michael Hesterly, assistant chaplain at the shelter. "They see this and say, 'Yeah, I want to help a kid out.' "
Shauna, chosen to be the recipient of the men's shelter camp scholarship, will attend camp from June 22 to 28.
"It feels really nice," she said of the donation. "I'm really thankful that they did that and have the kind of heart to donate to other people."
Children from the women's shelter have been going to camp at the Warm Beach Christian Camps and Conference Center in Stanwood for the last five years, said Sylvia Anderson, chief executive of the Everett Gospel Mission.
A picture will be taken of Shauna at horse camp, which will be displayed at the men's shelter with a thank you note.
At the camp, children are taught to groom and care for a horse. They go for trail rides and have arena games in addition to traditional camp activities such as swimming and Bible study, said Jo Reed, administrative assistant.
Shauna, who volunteers at Equine Rescue Association in Marysville, goes riding every Saturday, often on Harry, an Arabian horse.
She said in addition to riding, she was looking forward to swimming and temporarily having some time for herself at camp later this month.
Justin Rogers, 27, now a member of the men's shelter discipleship program, works at the front desk 32 hours a week where he was often handed donations for the camp fund.
"My being at the front desk, I get handfuls of pennies to go put into the bucket," he said. "They do it with a smile.
"It's a beautiful thing, those that have very little and give all they can."
Allen Nush, 38, said he's been contributing to the penny fund off and on for about a year. "As a matter of fact, I've got more coming," he said Monday morning.
Jim Nicolau, a cook at the shelter, figures he's donated about $20 worth of pennies to the camp fund.
"All the change I get, I throw into my change jar," he said, which later is deposited into the plastic collection bottle. Over time, three to four pennies a day add up, he said.
"This place has been here for me when I was down and out," Nicolau said, the reason why he now works as a cook at the shelter.
"Giving pennies to the kids is the same thing -- giving back."
The Everett Gospel Mission tries to ensure that every child at the women and children's shelter gets to go to camp, Anderson said.
For some of the children living at the shelter, it may be the only time they get to have a camp experience, she said. "We think it's vital that kids have as much of a normal summer as can be."
Reporter Sharon Salyer: 425-339-3486 or salyer@heraldnet.com.
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