Audrey Caro Gomez
Keeghan Gittins-Banker had big plans for the money he had been saving all summer, but instead of using it to buy a new Xbox for himself, the 9-year-old used it to buy clothes for a group of kids he had never met.
“My mom was on Facebook and I saw the picture of a kid with no pants, just a really long shirt,” Keeghan said.
Keeghan and his mother, Kristine Banker, attend Crawfordsville Community Church with Tim and Gina Swanson of Sweet Home, who moved to the greater Manila area of the Philippines this year to work with young people in a slum area of the city.
The photo Keeghan saw was one the Swansons had posted of children at a gathering called “Sidewalk Sunday School,” in the area where they are working.
Gina Swanson said the program is similar to a Vacation Bible School, in which teenagers lead younger children.
Keeghan decided these kids needed pants more than he needed a new Xbox.
“He thought of the idea and then came back and talked to me,” Banker said.
She told him they could cash in the cans he had been saving and send care packages.
“He thought about it and came back in a couple of weeks and talked to me,” she said. “Then we brought it to our pastor and our pastor gave him some instructions to go back and write a business plan.”
In the business plan Keeghan answered Crawfordsville Pastor Kelly Graham’s questions about why he wanted to raise the money, the start and stop dates of the project, where people could turn in the cans, and where Keeghan was going to cash in the cans.
Once the plan was completed, he got to work on his project, which he called “Cans for Pants.”
“I announced it (at church) and people started donating cans,” Keeghan said.
When word of his efforts got out, people started donating cans and some contributed cash.
“My first load to the recycle center, I spoke of my mission to guys in line with me and my mom,” Keeghan said. “They donated their four huge bags to Cans for Pants. That’s when I knew God was with me.”
“God showed up each week,” he said.
One man gave him a $60 donation – along with a request to pray for the contributor’s own ministry to kids. The mother and son made about 10 trips to the recycling center in Albany, coming home with one check for $94.
He ended up raising $310, about the same cost of that new Xbox Keeghan initially hoped for.
He presented the check to the Swansons, who had returned from the Philippines for a month-long holiday break, earlier this month. Before they left Manila, they contacted him to ask if they should go ahead and purchase clothing for the children based on how much Keeghan had raised. They presented him with photos and a video of the presentation of clothing in the Philippines.
“Everyone was very happy,” Gina Swanson said. “It’s a very impoverished neighborhood and that meant a lot.”
Since Keeghan completed Cans for Pants, he started working on a new plan.
“Now we’re raising cans to go on a mission to fly to the Philippines,” he said.
It’s going to cost about $1,200 each, for him and his mother, plus expenses, he said.
Banker said she thought Keeghan might be deterred when she told him how expensive the trip would be, but he reminded her what God had already done.
“I said ‘You’re right, I’m limiting God,’” Banker said.
When asked his deadline for raising the money, Keeghan said July, but added that it might end up being July 2018.
“I’m excited to see what the Lord is going to bring with this,” Banker said. “All we wanted to raise was 50 bucks and he raised $300, so I’m like the Lord is here, so anything’s possible.
“It’s like witnessing God through him.”
Banker said they are still working out the details of the trip to the Philippines, but anyone wishing to contribute cans may contact her at (541) 405-5259 or through the Facebook she made for Keeghan – facebook.com/keeghan.gittinsbanker.