Earlier this month, Ken Hucklebridge of Mission Aviation Fellowship in Nampa came upon something unexpected -- a donated bag of coins in a bucket of ice melt crystals sitting near the ministry organization’s front door. But who left it? That’s the mystery.
“Based on the note with the coins, I’m guessing the family left the money around the beginning of the year,” said Hucklebridge, who oversees MAF’s facilities operations and maintenance. “But we hadn’t needed ice melt, so it was a while before we discovered it. We have no idea who it’s from.”
Mission Aviation Fellowship is a Christian ministry organization based in Nampa, that uses airplanes and other technologies to make life better for people in remote and isolated parts of the world. MAF supports doctors, missionaries, churches, and aid agencies working in Africa, Asia, Indonesia, and Latin America.
The donation totaled $72.15, MAF officials said.
The note found with the coins said, “Our family has a tradition to put coins in windows and doorways on New Year’s Eve. The purpose is to reflect on the good things we wish for the coming year. For example, in the kitchen would represent that we will always have food to eat. On Three Kings Day, January 6th, as the wise men offered gifts, we offer our coins to a charity to represent the giving nature of our community.”
MAF applied the money toward the cost of a medical evacuation flight for a young Indonesian child named Sadrak, who was suffering from a severe respiratory virus. An MAF airplane carried Sadrak and his father from their village of Danowage to the hospital in Merauke for treatment.
“We want to say a big thank you to the mystery donors,” said John Boyd, MAF president and CEO. “Although you don’t know them, your generosity has impacted one little Indonesian boy and his family in a big way.”
