Ginette Soper, an eighth grader in Illinois, has put together a fund-raiser to benefit Restoration Ministries. She is selling Beanie Babies for ten dollars each. To date she has sold 80 of the 100 Beanie Babies that she had for the fund-raiser. She has raised more than $800.

The funds will go to help children who participate in Restoration Ministries’ after-school programs. Soper is familiar with the ministry program through her mother. The Restoration Ministry is in Harvey and serves more than 7,000 annually. It has an emphasis for helping underprivileged youth, but it has 26 programs which for every segment of the population.

Soper’s mother owns Salon St. Clair and helped her daughter arrange the fund-raiser at the salon. She also donated beauty treatments for a raffle for the fund-raiser. A salon client that works for Ty, Inc. was impressed with Ginette Soper’s idea and gave her 100 Beanie Babies as a donation for her fund-raising efforts.

People can purchase a Beanie Baby for $10. They can write a positive message on the Beanie Baby, or just their name and the Beanie Baby is then sent on to the children at Restoration Ministries. If someone donates $20 they can “sponsor” a Beanie Baby and also enter the raffle at the salon.