Since 100 percent of the fifth-graders in Sarah Ashton’s class at Harrison Elementary met their reading goal, the students traveled to MudLOVE’s downtown Warsaw location Thursday. There, students learned how MudLOVE makes its popular wristbands and made backpack tags for themselves and children in Haiti. Harrison students had from Feb. 4-15 to reach their reading goal during the school’s “Be Excited About Reading” program. When they reached their goal, they received a free MudLOVE wristband that says “Read.” With each wristband a student earned, $1 also was donated by MudLOVE to Integrated Community Development International, Winona Lake, to provide drilling for clean water in the Central African Republic. MudLOVE as an organization donated half of the cost of the wristbands, with Harrison’s PTO and business partner paying the other half. The class that reached the highest percentage of its reading goal was awarded with the trip to MudLOVE. Four classes had 100 percent of students meet their reading goals, so the classes were put into a drawing. Ashton’s class won. The other classes in the drawing were Deb McClintock’s, Craig Helfrich’s and Emily Davis’. “I’m really proud of all of our students, their hard work and their excitement for reading,” Harrison Principal Lee Snider said. “I’m thankful for MudLOVE for giving this opportunity to our students to come and do this. I also want to give thanks to our business partner, Hall Marose Silveus (Insurance), for the donation to make this possible, as well as the Harrison PTO.” Ashton said all 26 of her students read at least 300 pages in the two-week window. While touring the business, Ashton’s class heard MudLOVE Chief Investigator of Wisdom and Philosophy Kyle Garberson explain how they mixed the clay. The company orders about 1,000 pounds of clay every six months, he said, but as the business keeps growing, that could change. The clay is ordered from Ohio. Paul Dreisbach, MudLOVE development, explained to students how holes are punched into the wristbands and had students try it. Founder Luke Wright taught the students how to make the backpack tags. Wright founded MudLOVE about 3-1/2 years ago. It started in a garage in Winona Lake and grew from there. He said MudLOVE partnered up with Harrison Elementary because they wanted to do something in the community. “With clean water in Africa, people think we’re just third-world focused. We’re not. We’re all about love,” Wright said. “We wanted to do something with kids. Harrison is as pretty passionate about what they do as we are about what we are doing.” By having the Harrison students visit MudLOVE, Wright said they can not only see what the business does, but also see that they can do something for others. The backpack tags are elastic bands with four beads on them that spell out “love” and “hope,” Wright said. Each student made one for themselves, and four for Intercession Haiti to take to students in Haiti. “It just reiterates what we’re all about – love,” Wright said. He said he was very surprised that his business has been as successful as it has. It started out as a God-inspired business, he said, as he felt called to deny himself and give to something, and the people responded. “I try not to take it for granted,” Wright said. Bryan Hickerson, of Intercession Haiti, said the organization is a ministry to the children in Haiti, specifically Jeremie, Haiti. Lindsay Anderson, of Warsaw, is a full-time missionary there. When the earthquake struck Haiti in 2010, Todd Anderson and Tyler Silveus responded and helped set up Intercession Haiti. It was put on Lindsay’s heart to stay in Haiti and help spread the Gospel, Hickerson said, and that’s how it all started. By having the Harrison students make backpack tags for the Haitian children, Hickerson said it helps the students reach out to another culture. For more information on Intercession Haiti, visit its Facebook page or its website at www.intercessionhaiti.org The two MudLOVE locations are 804 G Park Ave., Winona Lake, and 122 S. Buffalo St., Warsaw. For more information on MudLOVE, visit its Facebook page or its website at www.mudlove.com For more information on Integrated Community Development International, visit its Facebook page or its website at www.icdinternational.org
