ShawneeDispatch.com

Two area students used a school project as an opportunity to raise money for South African children in need with the help of a Shawnee-based charity.

Bonner Springs High School seniors Brandon Hoch and Ian Seaton organized a Feb. 12 taco dinner at the school that generated $1,027, which they donated to Shawnee-based charity Oceans of Mercy Children's Village in Port Elizabeth, South Africa.

Hoch said he first thought of the idea two years ago after seeing an advertisement for the four-year-old orphanage in The Bonner Springs Chieftain. That year, Hoch forewent his Christmas, he said, and gave away all his holiday money to Oceans of Mercy, which cares for children whose parents have either died of AIDS or become too sick to care for them.

"I learned that putting on a fundraiser takes a lot of pre-organization and prep work," Hoch said. "Having connections is important to making it successful."

Hoch said this is why he decided to invite Seaton to help him.

"I knew it would be hard by myself," Hoch said, adding "Ian and I have been like brothers since we were little."

Seaton hadn't yet settled on what he would do for his senior project.

Seaton said he and Hoch were originally hoping to use as their fundraiser a multi-school drumline competition, but because only two schools returned registration materials sent out, he and Hoch decided on the taco dinner.

"We found it's hard to start something new," Seaton said.

Hoch said they had help for the dinner, with a family connection providing wholesale-priced meat and other fixings, while another friend donated and cooked the rice, and family and friends volunteered to serve and work at the event.

"I learned that every little bit helps," Seaton said of the money donated to Oceans of Mercy.

Seaton and Hoch made an impression on the chair and founder of Oceans of Mercy, Schaun Colin.

Colin said the impact of the money raised by Hoch and Seaton for the orphans in South Africa was seven times its value here. Colin, who is pastor of missions at Westside Family Church in Lenexa and owner of Country Club Café in Shawnee, said it costs $32 per month to house and feed an orphan.

That means the money raised by the Bonner Springs seniors would cover those expenses for all 12 children now housed at the orphanage for more than 2 1/2 months.

Oceans of Mercy also provides care for 83 children in schools and their homes.

"I can't say how impressed I am that young people are willing to step out of their comfort zone to help young people so far across the world," Colin said. "(These are) kids they'll never meet and are loving anyway."