By Mary Pannabecker Steiner

Elizabeth Nisly was so touched by reports she read and saw in the days following the January 12 earthquake in Haiti that she knew she had to do something to help. But the 11-year-old Bluffton sixth grader wasn't in the position to travel to Haiti to volunteer.

So, while helping her dad wash the dishes, she asked if they could do something to raise money for the victims of the earthquake. The two narrowed their choices down to a dessert event or spaghetti dinner. The spaghetti dinner won, and Elizabeth began planning.

This young girl with a big heart remembered when her family set up a "winter lemonade stand" in front of Et Cetera Shop after the 2004 tsunami in Southeast Asia. They held a fundraiser by selling hot chocolate and cookies to passersby.

This time around, it was Elizabeth's turn to do the planning, with some help from her parents, Lamar and Deborah, her brother, Jonathan 14, and sister, Annelise 8. She chose to hold the dinner after the January 24 service at the family's church, Grace Mennonite in Pandora. Based on other dinners held at the church, she estimated there would be 150 persons attending. She was close - they had about 130 persons in attendance.

Elizabeth planned a menu of meatless spaghetti, Caesar salad, breadsticks, lemonade, and assorted desserts. Knowing that others might want to contribute food, Elizabeth invited the youth of the church to donate desserts. She was right - on the day of the dinner, the dessert table was laden with brownies, cupcakes, poke cake, cherry pie, and cookies. Some of the high school and college student baked desserts, as well. There were, in fact, so many that they ended up auctioning off the leftover desserts.

What's a dinner without table decorations? Elizabeth and her Sunday school class cut out paper dolls and glued on clothing cut from scraps donated by quilters at the church. Some of the paper dolls were standing on the table, holding signs that read "Pray for Haiti." Above the donation basket hung a poem Elizabeth had written while waiting for her piano lesson to begin. (See poem below)

Although support from the church was evident well in advance, she decided to do some additional publicity, designing a poster and submitting a note to be included in other church's bulletins.

Deciding how much food to purchase was a bit trickier, but her parents helped her with that. They showed her how to interpret serving sizes on packages and as a result, were left with just one extra bag of spaghetti.

Her family helped her set up the tables and chairs on the Saturday before the event, and Cindy Luginbill and Diane Huber - both of whom are familiar with the church kitchen -- offered their assistance. Others volunteered to help serve, so they set up shifts for serving and clean-up. They saved money by using mostly china and glassware from the church, with minimal amounts of paper products. That, of course, meant lots of dishwashing.

In the end, Elizabeth's dinner raised $4,333.54; the auction of the extra desserts raised $81. Her parents had paid for all of the ingredients, so that she was able to donate all of the funds to the Mennonite Central Committee's Haitian Relief Project.

Asked how she felt about the project, Elizabeth said, " It makes me feel really good to know that I helped. I'm glad to know that all the money I raised will go to a good cause.

She admits that it was a lot of fun and if there is another natural disaster, she'll likely organize another fundraiser, although "I don't know if I'd do the same thing."

Her parents were pleased that she took the initiative to do this. Said her mother, "It showed that this (the earthquake) was weighing heavily on her mind" in the days following the disaster.

"It was clear how much she was an encouragement, an inspiration. She had a lot of affirmation and encouragement of our church (members)," said Deborah.

Haiti Poem
The world is in chaos
Haiti's capital is down
So many people hurting
They hide from their own town
We need to fix this problem
Because that country fell apart
So many people walk around
With a broken heart
We have to help the people
Who don't have enough to live
Those poor people in Haiti
Now is the time to give
The Haitian Relief Project
Needs your help today
So those kids in Haiti can
Live long enough to play
Think outside the box
Of your own little place
Because as you know now
Where there's a will, there's a way.

Click here to view photos of Elizabeth Nisly preparing for her dinner.