Bible school gives

Vacation Bible School students opened their hearts and their pockets this week.

Some 70 youngsters from three churches collected pennies, nickels, dimes, quarters and dollars all week, then donated the money to the Northern California Burn Foundation on Friday morning at the Federated Church of Orland.

With tears in their eyes, Brenda Ballantine accepted a check for $432 from Bible school coordinator Sarah Pitcher.

Pitcher said she was amazed at the amount and thanked everyone for being so generous.

Students came from the Federated Church, the First Lutheran Church and Good Shepherd Episcopal Church.

Ballantine, chairwoman and CEO of the foundation, told the children "you have been such a blessing. Some of the monies will help a child, some will go to adventures and some will be divided up into a book fund."

"I will ask the Lord to tell me how to help other people," she said.

Founded in 1986, the nonprofit organization is in the process of changing its name to Fountain Gate Burn Foundation, Ballantine told the children.

"This is the first donation" under the new name, she said.

Th foundation was formed after her daughter had been burned, and it got Ballantine thinking about other children who "got burned and were hurt really bad."

So, she decided to help them.

The foundation operates Camp Eagle Flight, which caters to burned children's psychological needs while showing them a good time in an environment where they share time with others who also are scarred.

When Ballantine cautioned the audience to be careful around fire, several youngster wanted to share their own stories about burns.

One said he burned his hand in the fireplace and "it hurt a lot." Another talked about someone who got burned from touching a roasted marshmallow. Someone else said he got burned by touching a barbecue.

Still another talked about a time when she was with her family at Disneyland and someone in line next to them had scars.

Ballantine said the foundation has served about 1,500 children in a variety of ways, including providing counseling.

Twice, Ballantine has taken groups of young adults on a four-day cruise that included firefighters, burn victims from other areas and members of the World Burn Congress.

She said many people on the cruise approached her to say they were happy to see be on the same trip.

"It made other think about how grateful they are," she said.

One fundraising project underway for Fountain Gate Burn Foundation is an effort to benefit a man whose face was so badly burned in a fire that he has no nose.

"We hope to raise $10,000 for a nose," she said, explaining the man was burned when he tried to save his brother in a house fire.

Also, the organization has started working with burned war veterans.

Besides having to deal with post-traumatic stress disorder, they have to deal with the physical and psychological effects of severe burns.

"They get injured because of bombs," Ballantine said. "And bombs are fire."

Contact Lydia Harris at 934-6800, 865-3110 or lharris@tcnpress.com.