November 13, 2014 VOLU M E 1 0 | I S SUE 24
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J E F F E R S O N C O U N T Y, C O L O R A D O
Woods takes win in Senate
PANTHER POWER
Republican edges appointed Zenzinger By Crystal Anderson
canderson@colorado communitymedia.com Republican Laura Woods captured Senate District 19 in a tight race. Woods beat appointed incumbent Rachel Zenzinger by a mere 1.1 percent on election night. With such a narrow margin, and some ballots still being counted, both candidates declined to comment on the election outcome last week. “I’m disappointed with Woods the results as they appear right now,” said former Senate District 19 Sen. Evie Hudak on election night. “It isn’t over … there’s still a chance, but the initial results are disappointing.”
Pomona quarterback Justin Roberts (7) hands off to senior Eric Lozano (29) in the Class 5A playoff game with a 21-14 win over the Rebels Friday at Jeffco Stadium in Lakewood. The Panthers advance to the 5A football quarterfinals to take on Valor Christian on Friday. See Pomona and Ralston Valley on Pages 18-20. Photo by Pam Wagner
Woods continues on Page 13
Enduring in Dakar Teenager raises funds for awareness in Africa By Crystal Anderson
canderson@colorado communitymedia.com During a 14-hour flight to Senegal, as he thought about the next four months of study, Ben Seamans, 17, suddenly felt he would leave something behind in the African country. Less than a month later, he knew what that would be. “I felt like I wanted to leave something here, and I didn’t know what,” he said. “Then I thought, ‘Oh, I could leave them a church.’ ” Seamans, a junior at Faith Christian Academy High School, and fellow students Spencer Littel, MacKenzie Barden, Sam Noone and Sam Goodwin, have been studying abroad in Senegal’s capital, Dakar, since early August. During Thanksgiving weekend, they will travel to Foundiougne, Senegal, a rural community of 270,000 people. While there, they will build a church. None of this would have been possible without the support of his hometown, Arvada. “I was expecting to get seven or eight thousand, but it’s a blessing to see what they amount it that we’ve got,” he said. “My main goal was to raise enough money to build a church, now I think we can build two.” Originally, these students and an additional team of volunteers from Faith were scheduled to build two churches in impoverished villages in Senegal. Then, Ebola broke out. Because of the disease’s outbreak, school administrators decided to cancel their annual missions trip to Dakar, opting instead, to go to Costa Rica. “We felt it just wasn’t a wise decision considering the circumstances to take a group of 40 kids there for 10 days,” said
Andrew Hasz, principal at Faith Christian Academy. Without the money from volunteers, the churches could not be built. That’s when an idea popped into Seaman’s mind, and he knew just what to do. “The night we found out FCA wasn’t able to come out here, I felt like I wished there was something I could do,” Seamans said via a Skype interview. “So I met with a couple people here (Dakar) and figured out how to get money out here and how much it would cost to build a church.” In attempt to continue the project, Seamans, along with his fellow FCA students, began a series of outreach efforts to raise the $8,000 necessary to build the church. In September, they reached out to friends and family, sought the support of FCA administration and the help of the Saint Joan of Arc Catholic Church youth group. They created a GoFundMe crowd funding site with a short documentary film of their time in Senegal. Over the next month and a half, the donations poured in. Between community support and a fierce penny war at the Faith Christian Academy Elementary School, this simple request garnered more than $16,000 for the project. “We talked about it in chapel — our elementary school has been amazing with what they’ve raised,” Hasz said. “I think when it’s all said and done … we’ll probably be able to build one church, if not two facilities there.” With the money raised, the students will donate 1,000 Operation Christmas Child boxes to children of Yoff, an impoverished part of Dakar, and build a well, put in a new concrete floor and replace the roof of a church they built in Baad, Senegal. “These people, they don’t have a place to worship, they’re worshiping under a tree,” Seamans said. “We’re giving them a building where they can go and worship God in.” To learn how you can help this cause, visit www.gofundme.com/DAChurchBuilding.
Faith Christian Academy high school students Ben Seamans, Spencer Littel, Sam Noone, MacKenzie Barden and Sam Goodwin gather for a photo in August before taking off for their semester abroad in Senegal, Africa. Courtesy photos
Dan Mulay, an Arvada student living in Senegal, holds a young boy from Yoff.