Six Year Old Raises Thousands Of Dollars For Drop In The Bucket By Inspiring Community To Build Water Wells In Africa

Ellie Schrock- Drop in the Bucket

When most of the kids of his age play video games and dress up as super heroes, six years old first-grader Ellie Schrock has turned into a real-life hero. She has raised thousands of dollars in partnership with Drop in the Bucket in order to provide safe drinking water for children in Africa.
Drop in the Bucket, an NGO dedicated to supply water wells and sanitation systems to school children in East Africa has got a lot of supporters because of its amazing work. The most dedicated seems to be six-year-old Ellie Schrock. Ellie was shocked on reading a book about the people and culture of Africa. She was surprise after learning that many children in Africa die because of no access to clean water. So in lieu of birthday gifts she decided to ask people to donate money to provide safe water for children in Africa. She inspired hundreds of kids and adults in her process of helping African children.
When Ellie found that Drop in the Bucket is a nonprofit organization that builds wells at schools in East Africa and provides them with tools required to improve child health and increase school enrollment rates, she knew what she wanted to do. “I wanted to help the African kids,” she says.
“Ever since Ellie was three, she was obsessed with going to Africa,” says her mother, Melissa Schrock. “She always said she wanted to ride her bike to Africa – she couldn’t understand why she couldn’t do that. So we went online so I could show her a map, and we found Drop in the Bucket’s website when we Googled “Africa.”
“In kindergarten Ellie kept telling me she wanted to do something to help the people in Africa,” her mother explains. “She asked me every day. I told her, ‘Maybe next year’. So she did stuff at home, and made a little coffee can with a Drop in the Bucket sticker on it that we put money in when she did things like getting blood drawn without crying.”
Ellie didn’t stop her efforts there only she also drew an image of a lemonade stand exhibiting some tin cans, mentioning the words “No presents” and “$5,000” and she handed over the picture to her first-grade teacher at Beaumont Elementary in Waterford, MI, Jennifer Knipper.
When the teacher asked Ellie what it meant, Ellie told her that she is intended to raise $5,000 instead of presents on her birthday and want to use the money to build a well at a school in Africa to give clean water to kids like her. “Right then and there it brought tears to my eyes,” says Knipper. “It’s pretty impressive for a six-year-old to say that, and I was immediately inspired. I always wanted to do something to help and it took a six-year-old to get me involved.”
From the time Ellie has spoken to her classmates at a school assembly, she has raised hundreds of dollars with her “Water Warriors” and “H2O=LIFE bracelets”, her family held a “Wine into Water” party and raised over $1,000. Ellie organized and encouraged others to get involved through a variety of activities.
Drop in the Bucket Founder and President, John Travis said, “We are truly fortunate to have someone like Ellie championing our cause, she is a remarkable six-year-old”. “Her commitment is going to positively impact thousands of lives”, he continued.
About Drop in the Bucket:
Drop in the Bucket is a Los Angeles-based, 501(c) (3) water and sanitation charity with field offices in Uganda and South Sudan. We have worked with hundreds of villages in East Africa to drill wells, construct sanitation facilities and introduce social programs such as Village Savings and Loan Associations, Girl’s Clubs, Health Clubs, Community Hygiene Promoters, and Community Sanitation Initiatives. As education is one of the most effective ways of remove poverty from a country, we work to provide schools and communities with tools they need to improve child heath, increase school enrollment rates and promote gender equality.