Kids' charity money for Africa stolen by thieves

The Kingdom Kids Church group from Ballyclare had raised a fantastic £120 only to see it stolen by thieves.

Children as young as four years old took part in the fund-raising drive by doing odd jobs and chores.

Laura Rafferty, co-ordinator of the group, explained: “We had been learning about this lady who lived in India many years ago who was helping little children, like rescue children, and the kids got really excited about it so we decided to do a project for Mission Africa and the work they do reaching out to loads of children.

“So, the kids decided they would do a ‘help to help’ challenge, and they went to their friends and family and offered to do odd jobs and chores in return for sponsorship for the charity.

“They worked at that for a whole month and had raised £120 and then the church was broken into last Sunday and they stole the money. It was really disappointing.”

However, Laura (25), who’s originally from Bangor, says that, after hearing about the break-in, the local community rallied round and donated to Mission Africa which provides children with an education, food, clothing and safe water.

“The community of Ballyclare have been incredible,” she says. “We started the Just Giving page because I’d got so many messages from people looking to get the money back up to what it was. https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/BMCKingdomKids

“It’s been wonderful to see people come together. I’ve never really seen community spirit like I have in the past week with so many people wanting to help.”

To help Kingdom Kids raise as much as they can for Mission Africa, you can donate via their Just Giving page at https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/BMCKingdomKids