The History of the Pocket Change Project

In mission on a mission: Since 2010

When the project first began in 2010, the goal was simple: collect enough pocket change during the season of Lent to sponsor one child in Haiti for a year. There were about 30 Cherubs and we had seven weeks. If each of them was able to collect $8 we could combine our smaller contributions into one large contribution and succeed. But we only wanted pocket change. Why? Because people don't usually think very much about the small coins in their pockets and purses. Added up, however, we believed that all those small coins could amount to something significant. So, the overall vision for the project was that a handful of small coins – collected by a handful of small children – could affect the life of just one child in Haiti in a big way. Long story short, they exceeded their goal that year and sponsored more than one child.

In 2011 they asked the Children's Choir at Southminster Presbyterian Church to join them. With the help of both their church families, who were invited to join the fun and toss their own pocket change in the collection plates one Sunday morning, they were able to sponsor four children. In 2012, the Sunday school students at Westminster decided to take up a collection of their very own to contribute to the project. So did a local business, and five children were sponsored through the Pocket Change Project.

In 2013, the Children's Choirs at Christ United Methodist Church committed to joining the Cherubs at Westminster and Children's Choir at Southminster, along with everyone else who is committed to the project. The goal was to sponsor eight children. They sponsored 13.

Ever since, the three children’s choirs have enthusiastically remained devoted to the project and dedicated to the mission. At the beginning of Lent in 2019, the collective number of children they had been able to sponsor totaled 93. And since that was the 10th anniversary of the project, their goal was to sponsor seven more for a grand total of 100. As history would have it, they once again exceeded that goal and were able to sponsor 17 for a grand total of 110!

Big change starts small! Please join us by collecting your own pocket change and adding it to ours each year.