Primary Sabbath School members from the Pleasant Valley Church will help children in Africa go to school through their $350 donation to the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA). Over the last two years, the 35-member class has been participating in friendly competition to raise money for three different mission projects.

Here's how it works. The class is divided into two teams based on their birthdays with the January–June birthday group competing against the July–December group. The children bring a dime for the mission project jar when they fulfill one of the incentives, which include reciting memory verses, studying the lesson five days in the week, and bringing Bibles to class. In addition, the class was encouraged to ask their parents for extra jobs around the house to help earn money for the mission jars. As the project got underway, the dimes slowly changed to quarters and sometimes dollar bills. More and more children knew their memory verses and Bibles coming to Sabbath school hit an all-time high!

The mission idea began after Hurricane Katrina. The children wanted to do more to help victims than just remember them in their prayers. The first time the mission jars were filled, approximately $50 was sent to ADRA for hurricane relief with the January–June birthday group being the “winners” for the competition. Next, the July-December birthday group led the way as the jars yielded $80 to purchase a crib for an African orphanage for babies with AIDS.

The most recent competition required the mission project jars to be emptied halfway through because more and more dollar bills were finding their way into the jars! The final count revealed the July–December group raised $203.96 and the January–June group raised $152.37, for a $356.33 total!