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Wausau Daily Herald

An Athens boy was so inspired by a recent "The Oprah Winfrey Show" program about poverty in Africa that he started his own campaign to raise money for people in Haiti.

Christian Murkowski, 11, is organizing a community garage sale, raffle and arcade to raise $5,000 to build an artesian water well.

Christian surfed the Internet and identified Food for the Poor as the relief organization he wanted to work with and Haitians as the people he wanted to help.

Food for the Poor is the third-largest international relief organization in the United States, said Jennifer Oates, the charity's public relations coordinator. She said 96 percent of donations go directly to programs that help people.

"These kids would really appreciate it," Christian said. "They don't have any (drinking) water, and they don't have enough money."

Christian's family supports his goal.

"He's really adamant about this, and I think it's really great," said Christian's mom, Therese Murkowski. "I don't know what kind of reaction we're going to get."

Christian's dad, Randy, helped him build 15 birdhouses to sell at the garage sale. His sister, Ashleigh, 15, is putting cookie mix in jars to sell, and Christian also is receiving help from his friends.

If he doesn't raise enough money to build a well, Christian plans to buy farm animals for needy Haitians.

He said one thing he has learned since starting his campaign is that "it's very hard to organize a fundraiser." He said the biggest challenge has been "getting responses from sponsors for raffle prize donations."