By Heart of Illinois ABC
BLOOMINGTON – Siblings in Bloomington are being credited for a big donation this holiday season in their effort to give back.
Cai and Christopher Marks created a unique fundraiser in order to raise money for the items they donated.
On Friday, Dec. 18, the two young siblings, just 9 and 6 years old, donated a truck full of items to Home Sweet Home Ministries.
“Each of the kids, we gave them 100 math problems at their grade level and a little harder. We told them that they could take as much time as they wanted but we couldn’t help them with any problems,” said CourtNey Marks.
All the problems were solved without a calculator and the more problems they got right, the more money they raised.
“My mom said we’re going to challenge you because there’s a lot of money riding on this, so she gave us hard math questions,” said Cai Marks.
“Friends of ours decided they would either donate a flat rate or a per problem rate, so they did the problems we corrected and let them know which ones they got right and which ones they got wrong.”
The original goal was to raise $200, but the two ended up with nearly $3,000.
The money raised was able to buy items like paper plates, zip lock bags, hygiene products and food items.
Leslie Bunge, with Home Sweet Home Ministries, says when they look back on 2020, it has been a year of resilience.
“Because people have really stepped up, young and old, to help give us donations and give us the support we need to carry on,” said Bunge.
Heart of Illinois ABC can be reached at [email protected].
