Molly Frowine and Maggie Peterson, who are now high school seniors in Davidson, N.C., were faced with a task: complete 10 hours of community service in order to fulfill a school requirement during their junior year. Instead of simply cleaning up a local park, the girls wanted to go above and beyond to actually help people. The girls decided to approach Sarah Rubens, the mom of Maggie’s boyfriend, for help, since she had previous experience in fundraising.
“Right about the time that Maggie and I were interested in starting this project, Sarah Rubens had just returned from a World Vision conference,” Molly explains. “She was all enthused about World Vision, so we started browsing the possible gifts to give, and we came upon goats. It’s $75 and fairly reasonable.”
Goats and Boats?!
The girls explain that for every $75 raised, World Vision purchases a goat and gives it to a family in a Third World country. In those places, a goat is a big deal, because it has many resources to help pull a family out of poverty. The goat helps the whole community, because families can sell the milk, make cheese and even breed the goat and sell the offspring. So the village has a huge celebration when someone receives the gift of a goat.
Molly and Maggie, along with sophomore Elizabeth Rubens, began trying to find a cool name for their fundraiser, something that rhymed with goat. In the end, it was Elizabeth’s dad who, in a moment of joking, said, “Why don’t you call it boats for goats?” The idea was to have some sort of boat race to raise funds to buy goats. The idea took off, and the girls worked hard to make their Boats for Goats event something that would make a difference in the lives of the poor in Third World villages.
The girls did a few small fundraisers before planning a paddleboat regatta race in April 2008. Their first fundraiser was several months before the regatta race, when the girls borrowed goats from a local ranch and placed them in a pen in the center of town along with a donation bucket. Kids could come and feed the goats, and the girls would answer questions.
During the Christmas season, a gallery in town opened its doors for the “goat girls.” They borrowed two goats from the church nativity scene, passed out flyers and sold T-shirts. Since the event was in the paper, many people were coming into the gallery, wanting to buy goats in friends’ and family members’ names as Christmas gifts. The girls set up a computer for people to go online and make the donation for a goat and then gave them a gift card indicating their purchase.
Regatta Race
With those events over, the girls turned their eyes to the regatta fundraiser. They went to their peers and challenged their classmates to raise enough money to qualify to be in the race: $75. Each team that raised that money got to be in the paddleboat race. Not only did this attract the girls’ classmates, but also college students and others from the community. On the day of the race 15 teams were in place, with each team comprising three people.
The event was held at a shopping center near Davidson College. The shopping center has a big fountain in the middle, and a man-made pond was built around the fountain. Each team had to race out and around the fountain, then under a bridge to the finish line.
“As various heats went on, people got more and more aggressive, and ultimately, we had a lot of wet people at the end of the day,” Sarah says.
By the end, with all the various fundraisers and the regatta event combined, the girls had raised an unbelievable $50,000 for World Vision. Looking back at all they’ve accomplished, the girls recognize that at times it was hard but completely worth the effort.
“There were definitely some very stressful times when I thought I was in over my head, and I’d never be able to get this project off the ground successfully,” Molly says. “But I stuck with it, and it all came together in the end.”
Maggie adds, “Don’t be scared to ask for help. We never would’ve been able to do this without asking for help.”
Elizabeth says, “Pray about it a lot. Also, take it in steps. We had a long time to do it, so we didn’t have to rush anything. And partner with another organization so they can know exactly what you’re doing.”
Another thing that was really important in starting this whole process, Molly says, was finding something they were passionate about and something they wanted to do.
Though they don’t know where their fundraising plans will take them next, Molly, Maggie and Elizabeth are still awestruck that the efforts or three teen girls provided more than 650 goats for needy families.
