Zack's Shack: A Little Service Goes a Long Way

Here is an upcoming article about a little boy doing a lot of good. I'm inspired. My wheels are turning.

Zack’s Back!


By Howard Collett

Zack’s back, and with all the energy a seven-year-old can muster. Last year, his lemonade stand in Provo, Utah raised enough money for one wheelchair (watch video). He donated the money to LDS Charities.

Zack got the idea at his school, Wasatch Elementary, where classes were raising money for wheelchairs following the Haiti earthquake. This year, sales increased tenfold and Zack raised enough money for ten wheelchairs—all in a single weekend.

“He’d been bugging me for weeks, asking when it would be time to set up his lemonade stand,” said his mother, Nancy Bird. “He kept saying, ‘Put everything on Facebook.’ This morning, he got up and said, ‘Is it time? Let’s get the cookies made!’ He could hardly contain himself. He even said, ‘If we get enough, maybe we’ll even buy a [clean water] well.’ I told him that we should just focus on one thing at a time.”

“We put the fundraiser details on Facebook,” said Nancy. “I sent the information to everyone I was friends with, and they sent it to their friends—about 500 people in all. Before we even set up the stand we had received about $150 in the mail from people who couldn’t come.”

“$178,” corrected Zack, with all the enthusiasm of a budding entrepreneur. “And one was as far away as Alaska!”

Part of Zack’s enthusiasm was fueled by a letter he received last year. “This is my special thanks for people in America in general and as a special one for you, my friend Zack,” said Abdulla Monsour Oudah, recipient of a wheelchair from LDS Charities. “I kiss your forehead [a supreme Arabic act of respect]. I am proud of you and what you did for me and for other people who need help. Since we are handicapped, we do not have what ordinary boys have, but we have a smart brain and willingness from our God to help us handle our problem to face life bravely.”

Abdulla is nine years old and lives in Quesan, Jordan. He has been paralyzed since birth. His letter was forwarded to Zack by Elder and Sister Colson, humanitarian missionaries serving in Jordan. The Colsons shared how Abdulla’s brothers help him get to school in his wheelchair—a distance of three kilometers over a rocky road.

“We asked him how the wheelchair has changed his life,” said the Colsons. “He said, ‘Now I can play games! He also enjoys riding around outside and being with his family.”

To assist more people like Abdulla, Zack hoped to increase the number of wheelchairs he could help buy this year. He recruited eight-year-old family friend Aubrey Ellis to help. The two kept busy packaging cookies in plastic bags and pouring lemonade for drive-by customers. Zack’s Shack was so busy on Friday that they decided to work Saturday as well. Nancy estimates they had more than 300 customers in two days.

And all because a little boy wanted to help those in faraway lands be able to get around.

“I am sorry that you are not able to walk,” Zack wrote back to Abdulla. “But at least you can now get around and have fun in your new wheelchair. I am glad I could help earn money to help you and other people. I know that Heavenly Father loves all of us and is happy when we help others.”




LDS Philanthropies is a department within the Office of the Presiding Bishopric charged with facilitating the philanthropic desires of members around the world and helping the Church to accomplish its work.

Sub Zero Ice Cream Field Trip

Our Sub Zero Ice Cream field trip was AWESOME. Honestly, it was up there with my favorites. Playing with liquid nitrogen was exciting and educational...and something I never would have attempted with the kids at home...even if it didn't cost hundreds of dollars.

The manager, Royal, gave each group a small bowl of liquid nitrogen, which was placed inside a bigger stainless steel bowl. Everyone took turns touching it. You have to be quick. If you touch it too long, it will hurt, and then freeze your finger off...literally.

We froze some little candies and marshmallows and then threw them to make them shatter.

This picture was right after Bubs spilled liquid nitrogen on himself. Um, yeah.

Did you know that liquid nitrogen boils below room temperature? It's crazy! While it sat there in the bowls, it slowly rose to a boil...although it was still cold, of course. 

When we were finished, we just poured the bowls of liquid nitrogen out onto the floor. They didn't even leave a wet spot, the liquid just vanished.

Then, we got to the kids' favorite part of the field trip...Eating! They ordered mint with gummy bears and strawberry with gummy bears. Mmmm.  :)

At the end, I gave Royal a donation jar to keep there for their baby that needs heart surgery. My heart was warmed by all the generosity I saw. Thanks, everyone!

It was a great success! If you missed it, and you live near a Sub Zero in AZ, ID, or UT, definitely go check it out. Better yet, if you're in the Provo area, go support Royal and Jenn.

Help My Friend's Baby=Go Out for Ice Cream!

Eat Ice Cream, Save a Baby

Baby Ezekiel Petersen was life-flighted to Primary Children’s Hospital in Salt Lake City on Monday, January 31, 2011. He has RSV and a serious heart condition which requires surgery as soon as possible. His parents, Royal and Jenn Petersen, need help. The cost of their son’s medical care is astronomical.

Here is Baby Zeke’s story as told by his father, Royal:
“Our youngest child, Ezekiel (or “Zeke”, seven weeks old) got sick recently and began showing symptoms late Sunday night. Sunday afternoon he was fine, smiley and all, but Sunday night he was pretty ill. Monday morning Jenn was worried and decided to take him to the doctor. Zeke’s condition had deteriorated all morning long but became exponentially worse in the doctor’s office. Dr. Johnson advised Jenn to take an Ambulance to Primary Children’s hospital in SLCabout an hour away. Dr. Johnson then got on the phone and began preparing Primary Children’s to receive Zeke. During this time Zeke’s breathing became very shallow and sporadic. Zeke turned white and his lips purple. This is when Dr. Johnson became panicked, he immediately took Zeke and put him on oxygen. He told Jenn Zeke wasn’t going to make it to Primary Children’s and that if they took the Ambulance that was just arriving to Utah Valley Hospital instead he would have a chance.(about 5 blocks up the road) They went to Utah Valley. Utah Valley is a good hospital but not equipped (with equipment or staff) to handle heart issues in children especially small infants. By an act of God the doctor/heart specialist at Utah Valley happened to be a Primary’s children’s infant heart specialist. (Through a series of events that is a story in itself the right doctor was there) Arriving at Utah Valley, Doctor Johnson updated the ER doctors of the situation and stayed while they tried to stabilize Zeke. They had to put him on a ventilator along with a number of other medications to get him stable. Once the immediate danger had passed they prepared Zeke to be life flighted from Utah Valley to Primary Children’s and also gave him an x-ray. Zeke’s heart was substantially enlarged and his lungs were full of fluid. Looking at the x-ray the heart specialist guessed a number of things (correctly) and put him on some meds to try and open his Ductus Arteriosus Zeke was then life flighted away. This was very difficult. We knew that Zeke was currently stable from the RSV butdidn’t have an accurate assessment of his heart condition. We had a best case and a worst case scenario."
{You can read the rest of their story and as well as make a donation here.}


If anything, PLEASE copy and paste this post on your blog! Every little bit helps! (I copied it from Our Dayley Happenings)

Jenn is a childhood friend of mine, and one of the sweetest people I know. Jenn and her husband, Royal, own Sub Zero Ice Cream at the Provo Towne Center. If you live in the Provo area, please consider going out for ice cream on Monday evening between 7 and 10 to help them with Zeke's bills. You can see more about this event on Facebook. I just had Sub Zero Ice Cream for the first time last week...and YUM!

See you there!

Here am I; send me.

Here am I; send me.

I think about this statement often...Often enough that I wanted it above my mantel.

In Isaiah 6:8, we read, "Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me."

I want to be available when the Lord asks something of me. I want to be a servant He can rely on.

Marjorie Hinckley said, "I don't want to drive up to the pearly gates in a shiny sports car, wearing beautifully, tailored clothes, my hair expertly coiffed, and with long, perfectly manicured fingernails. I want to drive up in a station wagon that has mud on the wheels from taking kids to scout camp. I want to be there with a smudge of peanut butter on my shirt from making sandwiches for a sick neighbor's children. I want to be there with a little dirt under my fingernails from helping to weed someone's garden. I want to be there with children's sticky kisses on my cheeks and the tears of a friend on my shoulder. I want the Lord to know I was really here and that I really lived."

I want Him to know that when He calls, I'll say, Here am I; send me.

I want to do what this song about serving others teaches.