Lending a helping hand
Haley Pearson, Castle Pines resident, was deeply moved after visiting the Sinde Village in Africa in 2012 and wanted to do more to help out.
By Kathy Fallert; photos courtesy of the Pearson Family
The Pearson family, residents of Winter Berry, recently started making it their mission to raise money for communities in need, particularly children in need. This year’s focus for the Pearson family is the Sinde village in Africa.
The Pearsons visited Africa in 2012 along with their four children Haley (17), Matthew (15), Harry (14) and JoJo (12). Mother Sally Pearson commented, “The children were moved by a tour we had of Sinde village located near Livingston, Zambia. Our kids loved meeting all the preschoolers in the village and loved how happy they were though it seemed as though they had nothing.”
After leaving Africa, the Pearsons were determined to help. The village asked for a solar pump for its water supply and for help to start a library in the preschool. Sally and her husband Dave donated the solar pump with the help of a relative. But the kids still wanted to do something themselves to help out.
JoJo had the idea of a hand that waves on a car’s back windshield wiper. Sally stated, “We had fun making prototypes and testing it out. Our friends loved the idea, so the kids thought this would be a great way to give back. Friends were offering us money to make waving hands for them, but we held them off until we could establish the charity.”
After working on it for more than a year, the Helping Hands charity was well on its way. Haley chose the Sinde village as the charity’s recipients this year. Next year her brother Matthew will choose the beneficiary, followed by Harry then JoJo.
The Pearsons held their first open house fundraising event on November 2. They hoped to raise enough money to fill the village preschool with library books. The Pearson’s gave away their “helping hands” rear wiper attachments and one-hundred percent of the proceeds from voluntary donations went to the Sinde village. Including on-line donations, a total of $9,500 was raised – enough to provide the village with much more than the library books they were hoping for.
To learn more about the Pearsons and their family charity, visit www.thehelpinghandsgroup.net.
The Pearson family (Haley pictured above) gave away these “helping hands” which attach to the rear car wiper to help raise money for children in need.
JoJo Pearson visited the Sinde village preschool where the Pearson family decided to help create a school library.
The preschool class that the Pearsons visited in Africa is this year’s beneficiary to the Helping Hand charity.
