Big Accomplishments
for a Little Girl
By Kate Hofstetter
R
ylee Suon seems a little young to be
carrying around a dossier on a kid
not much younger than herself. Most
people would agree, however, that Rylee’s not
your average child. If she were, we’d be living in
a whole different world.
Although the Westlake eighth grader is tiny for
her 14 years, she is doing something really big.
For the past three years she has been financially
responsible for much of the basic education of
a 12 year old girl named Sandra Eusebia Lopez
Lopez, who lives in Guatemala with her father and
mother. Each month Rylee earns and sends $38
to
Compassion International
, a Christian-based
organization that partners with local Christian
Churches to release children, like Sandra, from
poverty.
Rylee, an 8th grader at Christian Heritage
Academy, raises the $38 by selling bracelets she
has made from paracord and embroidery floss.
In case you’re wondering, paracord is quite an
amazing invention. It was used during World
War II in suspension lines of US parachutes. In
the field, paratroopers found the cord useful for
several tasks, including survival. It can be kept
whole or unraveled to produce such things as
shoe strings and fishing line. It was even used by
astronauts on the 82nd space shuttle mission to
repair the Hubble Space Telescope. It is all nylon,
fairly elastic, a little hard to find and somewhat
expensive.
“Some paracord is 35 feet long,” Rylee says,
“and will support up to 500 pounds.”
She has found the cord at Army surplus stores
and in Floyd, VA. The big find, however, came
recently when the family was on a trip to visit
relatives in Ohio. They found a store in Toledo
selling 100 foot skeins of the cording.
It takes Rylee between 10 and 30 minutes to
make one bracelet which she sells for $10.00 and
uses about $3 to $4 in material. All the profit
goes toward the support of Sandra. Her bracelets
are for sale at the The General Store on Scruggs
Road where Mom, Lori, is a manager. In the
summer you will see Rylee selling them in the
parking lot at the store. She also sells them at
her church, Redwood United Methodist and by
word of mouth. She works hard for her friend in
Guatemala.
Her motto which is displayed on her business
card is:
“It doesn’t matter that we are only helping
one person it just matters that we are helping.”
And:
“I can do everything through Christ who
gives me strength”
Philippians 4:13
Rylee’s mom, is also sponsoring a child
through
Compassion International
. She is one
of a group of 12 who took on the responsibility
of a child living in poverty. But Rylee wanted to
sponsor a child by herself.
“She has more money saved for her child than
my group,” Lori confessed with a laugh. “And,
she’s earned every penny herself.”
Rylee’s compassion for others began at an
early age. When she was in kindergarten the
teacher told her parents how she always tried to
make people feel better. She was always the first
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Discover Smith Mountain Lake
Spring 2014
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