Faith CoLab: Tapestry of Faith: Wonderful Welcome: A Program for Children Grades K-1

Faith In Action: Help The Goat Climb The Mountain For Heifer International

Materials for Activity

  • Large sheet of poster board
  • A copy of Leader Resource 3, "Climb the Mountain" Animals
  • Color markers, glue sticks and scissors

Preparation for Activity

  • Draw the slope of a mountain on poster board. You may like to title the poster "Wonderful Welcome Helps," "Let's Help the Goat Climb the Mountain," or simply "Climb the Mountain."
  • Cut out and decorate one or more animal figures from Leader Resource 3, "Climb the Mountain" Animals. Use an animal figure to "climb" the mountain as the group raises money to purchase that animal for a Heifer International recipient.
  • Invite your religious educator, minister and/or congregational committees and members to support the children's fundraising activities. Display the "Climb the Mountain" poster where the entire congregation can monitor the fundraising progress.
  • Browse the Heifer International website for fundraising ideas and information on how the organization helps people all over the world.

Description of Activity

Guide the group to initiate a fundraiser to see how many animals the congregation can purchase through Heifer International for people all over the world. Twenty dollars purchases a flock of chicks or populates a fish pond. One hundred and twenty dollars purchases goats, pigs or sheep. A Heifer costs $500 while $5,000 will purchase an " Ark " that includes two of every animal Heifer distributes.

On the bottom of the poster write the names of the animals or put their pictures, along with the fundraising goal for each animal. You could add the more expensive animals as the animal figure(s) climb the mountain. Post animals that you think your congregation could realistically purchase.

The children might have a table at coffee hour to tell people about the project and ask for their help to purchase an animal. No monetary gift is too small - make sure everyone understands that no one has to purchase a whole animal. As people contribute, have the cut-out animals, "climb" the mountain.