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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Laura Lee Ellis
(303)730-8193, Ext. 164
Homeschoolers united with Sonlight Curriculum and Mission India to fight poverty and illiteracy and share the Gospel through the Sonlight Rice Bag Project.
DENVER, Col.,—Dec. 8, 2008—Since mid-September, homeschooled students who use Sonlight Curriculum have been gathering loose change to help women in India learn to read—and access the Gospel message. Not only are these students learning the gift of giving, they are sharing the gift of reading—and the gift of hope—with people half a world away.
The initiative is called the Sonlight Rice Bag Project. Thousands of Sonlight families pulled together to fund Bible-based literacy training for Indian women. Since the literacy program uses material based on the Bible, and the volunteer teachers are believers, many of the students come to follow Christ.
Sonlight and Mission India provided small rice bags for families to use to gather change. The bags were designed to remind the families of the tradition that even the poorest of Christians in India set aside a handful of rice from the evening meal to give to the poor and to support their church. In that spirit of giving generously with little or much, these students took on the cause with determination.
Some of these homeschooled students gave up fast food, set up lemonade stands, hosted garage sales, made cookies and crafts and scavenged their pockets and couch cushions for loose change—even gave up Christmas presents or their fun money for the month—in order to support this mission effort with everything they could.
These homeschool families passed their $100,000 goal to raise $115,237.36. Sonlight Curriculum owners, John and Sarita Holzmann, doubled all those donations for a grand total of over $230,000. That means, from the approximately 3,000 families who signed up, they raised enough money to help 7,682 Indian women to learn to read. Some families were so touched by the project that they are continuing to raise support for this mission effort in India.
“I believe we have had an opportunity to affect the lives and hearts of our kids…most of us give to our churches, but our children usually have less involvement in that and I worry that our children don’t have the opportunity to give from their own hearts and affect a change within their own soul and spirit by giving to a cause that’s truly strategic and important,” said Sarita Holzmann, Sonlight’s president and founder.
Sonlight partnered with Mission India to create an educational opportunity for the students to learn about the 10/40 window and the needy peoples of the world—including the nearly 200 million women in India who cannot read or write. Families who signed up received a kit with learning materials and a DVD about the life of an average Indian woman who learned to read and found life-changing hope.
Of India’s more than one billion people, nearly 830 million Hindus worship idols. Superstition and witchcraft hold India’s rural villages in an iron grip.
About 30 percent of the Indian women participating in the literacy program come to Christ and all of them attain a fifth grade reading level by the time they complete the program. This opportunity allows them to better their families’ lives and instill the value of education in their children.
Because Sonlight Curriculum is a literature-based homeschool curriculum, a love for good books is something all the students and parents seem to share.
“As Christians, we know the joy of leading our children to the Lord. As homeschoolers, we know the immense value of teaching our children to read,” said Holzmann. “In many Indian families, however, because neither the mom nor dad is literate, they see no benefit in teaching their children to read. In other families, while they send their sons to school, they refuse to ‘waste’ the money to educate their daughters.”
Because of their desire to help raise up ambassadors for Christ with a heart for the world, the Holzmanns offered their Sonlight customers a chance to reach across national boundaries to make a difference. And these homeschooled students rose to the challenge and did just that.
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About Sonlight Curriculum
Sonlight Curriculum, Ltd. is a Christian company specializing in literature-based homeschool programs. They provide a comprehensive learning experience with a complete PreK through 12 homechool curriculum and offer a wide range of materials and customizable packages full of award-winning books. Sonlight Curriculum is based in Littleton, Colorado and serves customers in over 150 countries worldwide. Sonlight empowers parents to raise lifelong learners who fervently pursue whatever God calls them to do. For more information about Sonlight or literature-based home education, visit www.sonlight.com.
About Mission India
Mission India’s purpose is to assist Indian churches and indigenous mission agencies in planting reproducing churches in a systematic and measurable way. Find out more at www.missionindia.org.
Contact for Sonlight Curriculum: Laura Lee Ellis
lellis@sonlight.com, (303) 730-8193, Ext. 164
Letter detailing the inspiration and meaning of the Rice Bag Project:
