Not long ago, 12 year-old Madison Bass sent out a plea to family and friends to help her raise money for missionaries to build water wells in Kenya. 

“Something that we tend to take for granted here in the States is clean water,” she said in her fundraising letter. “So many people in Kenya drink dirty water because there is no clean water. The money raised will go with the missionaries to build water wells for them and teach them not only about clean water but about Jesus Christ, the Living Water.”

Along with having clean water, her hope with the well is that people will hear about it being built and come to see it. While they’re congregated the missionaries will be able to share the Living Water of Christ to those who are also seeking something to quench their souls.

Although she’s raised money for this cause in the past, this year Bass wanted to try something different. She made 100 notecards with a number on each of them from one to 100, and asked people to ‘pick a card, any card.’ The card they picked was the amount of money they pledged to her fundraiser.

For her part of the fundraiser she challenged herself to shoot free throws for an hour blindfolded. Earlier this month she took on that challenge at the Becker Field House. 

When she began she was somewhat intimidated because she felt led to raise $1,500 and the large dollar amount worried her. Then, while she was shooting the free throws and missing, she couldn’t see what she was doing wrong with her form to correct it so she began getting frustrated and a little discouraged.

Bass persevered. Her arms ached, her eyes were sore and her legs wanted to give way, but she kept pushing through, thinking about the kids who could have clean water for the first time. She ended up making 52 shots.

Helping her along the way were prayer warriors, people who came to watch and support her throughout the hour, and a core group of people who were there to pray with her at the beginning and cheer her on through the tough times.

“It wasn’t me,” she said. “It was a community getting behind a 12 year-old girl to support ministries. My family and friends wanted to help just as much as I did. So they picked a card and pledged that amount. I shot the free throws blindfolded, but they sacrificed their money so others could have clean water.”

Madison is the daughter of Gerry and Sarah Bass; Gerry is the pastor of Oakwood Church in Becker. Since her free-throw feat, the total raised for her fundraiser has continued to grow. Currently it’s at $3,200.

“If we all would be obedient when God asks us to do something we would see big changes happening all over the place,” she said.

Donations to Bass’ cause can be dropped off at Oakwood Church, which is located next to Becker Furniture World off Hwy 10. 

Oakwood Church is an AG (Assembly of God) ministry; the organization they work with and Bass is performing her fundraiser through is Speed the Light - Youth Missions, which is partnering with WorldServe, an organization dedicated to providing clean water wells in Africa.

To learn more about Speed the Light and WorldServe, visit youth.ag.org and worldserveintl.org.