Rock-A-Bye Poverty:

NUMC Fundraiser

For Development In Mozambique

On Sunday, January 18, 17 members of the Newtown United Methodist Church’s Youth Fellowship spent 12 hours in rocking chairs to raise money for Mozambique. The fundraiser, called Rock-A-Bye Poverty, was in response to Bishop Jeremiah Park’s call to all United Methodist Churches in the New York Annual Conference to each raise a minimum of $200 to help with much-needed building development in that impoverished country.

Members of the NUMC Youth Fellowship, all Newtown residents and students, range from sixth to twelfth graders. Tenth grader Alyssa Wade, who participated in the rockathon along with her twin sister Kelela and younger brother Brandon, was surprised at the energy it took to complete the 12 hours of rocking.

“After a while, you just wanted to stop, but we knew we just had to keep going,” the Newtown High School sophomore said.

The students were able to obtain more than $600 in pledges thus far, according to organizer Laurie Gladrud, whose 14-year-old daughter Emma also participated in the fundraiser.

“We ran a rockathon seven years ago, before any of the kids here today were even old enough to be in our Youth Group,” she explained, adding, “We felt it was time to try it again, and we are thrilled with our success.”

The Youth Fellowship will continue to collect donations. Since they achieved their $200 goal, all additional donations will be equally divided between the Bishop’s Mission for Mozambique and the Newtown United Methodist Church’s Youth Fellowship group, to help fund future events.

Anyone interested in sending in a donation can mail it to Newtown United Methodist Church, 92 Church Hill Road, Sandy Hook CT 06482, or drop it off at the church’s office, with Rockathon in the memo line.