May 26, 2007
One of the things that I love to do at Real Teen Faith is to talk about teens who are making a difference in the world. I ran across this quote the other day:
“I’m just a normal 12-year-old who’s trying to live his life, shining for Jesus and do what I’ve been called to do by the Bible. Any o
ther kid [can do this], all they’ve got to have is a passion and let Jesus do his thing’.” Austin Gutwein
What did he do? What is he saying that anyone can do?
He raised nearly a hundred thousand dollars through his foundation called Hoops of Hope, which will be used to build a school for AIDS orphans in Africa. This is an article excerpt written about Austin and of Hoops of Hope at Pastors.com.
Headline: 12-year-old makes dream of providing school for AIDS orphans a realityby Allison Cox
After raising more than $35,000 in December 2006 to help HIV/AIDS orphans in Africa, 12-year-old Austin Gutwein heard his dad, Dan, promise that if he raised more than $100,000 through his Hoops of Hope organization, Dan would take him to Africa.
Austin better pack his bags.
The 2006 event raised nearly $60,000 that will go toward building a school in Zambia.The school will be built in memory of Jonathan Sim, a World Vision employee whose dream of building a school for his sponsored children was not realized before his death in 2006. His wife, Kelly, was able to raise part of the money needed to fund the building. Hoops of Hope raised the additional funds needed to start construction this year.
“I think that it’s going to be an awesome opportunity for us not only to share Jesus with some of the kids over in Zambia,” Austin said. “But it’ll be an awesome opportunity for kids to finally get the education that they’ve been wanting for so long.”
Read the rest of the article. . .From Suzie: Pretty awesome, isn’t it? One person will impact so many. Just let someone tell me that tweens and teens aren’t amazing! I love what God can do through youth (you!) to make a difference in the world.
I hope you’ll check out Hoops of Hope. I hope you’ll be challenged to make a difference in your world.
