Toilet Seats are showing up in front yards in the Virginia Beach area this month. No, there isn’t a strange littering problem or a new decorating craze.
Four decorated toilet lids are being used by the youth of Emmanuel Lutheran Church in Virginia Beach to raise money to bring to the ELCA National Youth Gathering for an offering that will go to the ELCA’s Walk for Water project.
The goal for the entire Youth Gathering is $500,000, which will be matched by a generous family. The youth from Emmanuel will be contributing over $1,000 when they go to the Gathering in Detroit this summer.
Their original goal for Emmanuel was to raise $500 and they have already doubled it in two weeks.
How in the world did the youth raise so much money with toilet seats?
One of the houses that was hit with the Silver Streak
This is how it works: The toilet seats are placed in people’s yards and left there until a minimum of a $10 donation is made to the Walk for Water fund. The homeowner can choose to double their donation to $20 and send the toilet seat on to a friend’s house. If someone doesn’t want a potty seat showing up on their front lawn they can choose the “Flush Me Now” option by making a $10 donation to stay off the hit list.
“Everyone has been incredibly generous so far,” said Lynn Wiles, one of the parent-volunteer youth leaders.
“The support by the congregation has been incredible. We are only asking for $10 and we are seeing checks for $50 or $100.”
The idea came to the students as they sat in Sunday school trying to brainstorm fundraising options. As they flipped through a few resources from the ELCA they came across a suggestion to have a traveling toilet. Because an entire toilet is so heavy and difficult to move, the group decided to put their own spin on the idea and have traveling toilet seats.
Each of the seats has been affectionately been given a name that corresponds to its color: Golden Throne, Silver Streak, Deer John, and Beptopismol Pink.
“People are really getting into,” said Lynn. “We’ve even had one couple request to have both the gold and the green lids so that they could have the Packer colors.”
Also on the front of each seat there is also a sign that reads, “Flip the Lid to Learn More!”
When someone does flip the lid they will find two flyers with statistics about the water crisis in the world and an explanation of the fundraising project.
“Globally, 1.8 billion people—that’s about one out of every four people—drink from contaminated water sources,” the flyer reads.
Every time a new house has a toilet seat pop up on the lawn, pictures pop up on social media soon after.
“There are tons of comments on Facebook which is what the kids see and that is really encouraging for them,” Lynn said.
As a kick off for this fundraising project and to educate the entire congregation about the water crisis, the students put on a skit during youth Sunday to demonstrate what it may be like to live in a country where there is a shortage of clean water.
Phillip Lane, a high school student, washes a shirt in filthy water to symbolize what people across the globe deal with on a daily basis.
The students brought up a tub of clean water to the front of the church. As they quoted statistics about water in third world countries they dropped objects in the tub that represented common drinking water contaminants like animal and human waste, dirt, parasites, etc. Finally one of the youth washed a shirt in the water.
What was left was a mucky, disgusting pool of liquid that no one would want to drink. However, the sad reality is that so many people in the world don’t have another option.
“I think that it is important to demonstrate service in your church, your local community, and the world,” said Heidi Evans, another parent-volunteer youth leader. “It also lets us give thanks for what we take for granted locally.”
Emmanuel Lutheran has 17 high school students and four adults going to the ELCA National Youth Gathering where they will deliver the church’s financial gift.
“The youth have been so appreciative of the support that this congregation has shown. They have financially supported so much with this project on top of already contributing to fundraisers that cover the cost of the National Youth Gathering.”
A collage of all the students and adults going to the National Youth Gathering
The entire church has rallied around the youth and supported them through fundraising dinners so that each student going to Detroit only has to pay the registration fee.
Their Walk for Water fundraiser is not over yet, toilet lids will still be showing up in yards across the Virginia Beach area and there is a 5 gallon water jug being filled up with change. According to the ELCA website, $1000 could train a team of trainers who would educate a community about water sanitation and hygiene.
Lives will be forever changed all because of four toilet lids along with the compassion and creativity of a loving Christian community.
For more information about the ELCA’s Walk for Water Project, go online to www.elca.org.
