By Journalism student Aiden B. and edited for clarity by New Life Academy.
Every Thursday, Mrs. Ellie Fredrickson and several upper school students run a café to raise money for a well in Kenya as part of a student-led group called Buy A Coffee Buy A Well (BACBAW).
BACBAW was started in 2009 and when they first started out, the members had to buy the supplies with their own money, run BACBAW from a puppet stand, and brewed their own coffee at 6:45 a.m. every morning. They now use the cafe in the Great Room every Thursday morning. They can also be found selling coffee at several student events such as the high school plays in the fall and spring.
“We felt like we should be pouring our resources not only into our community but also representing Christ elsewhere,” says Mrs. Fredrickson.
Currently, Mrs. Fredrickson runs the group with the help of several students. One of these students is junior Hope Sikorski. Her job is to train new members of BACBAW, make sure the rules are followed, and just assist Mrs. Fredrickson with anything she needs.
“Putting on events has been wonderful, even if it can be stressful sometimes. But overall, it’s just something I look forward to,” Hope says. “Making drinks is fun, being cashier is fun, and being able to interact with your community in a new way is also very enjoyable.”
When COVID hit in 2019, BACBAW had to shut down and didn’t return when school started up again. This decision was made to ensure that moving forward everything would run well and that they could work on improving hospitality.
“We’ve seen so many updates about our sister school in Kenya and their well-being built,” says Hope. “It’s really cool to see and to know that you were part of making that happen.”
Last school year, thanks to the generous support and donations of the New Life community, BACBAW successfully funded a clean water project in Haiti and also helped provide a well for our sister school in Ghana.
Be sure to stop by every Thursday morning from 7:30 to 8:00 a.m. to support BACBAW! Every cup brings them closer to their $5,000 goal to fund another well this year, providing the life-changing gift of clean water to communities in need.
