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They launched fundraiser after fundraiser. But money was slow to come in. When Tony Frank, executive director of World Vision Chicago, first visited Wheaton Academy in the winter, the students had raised $5,000 toward their vision of a Zambian schoolhouse. "Honestly, I thought, Maybe they'll make it to $10,000," Frank said. "I really had no confidence."

By spring break, the total was $20,000. Student leaders were stunned to realize they had to raise $33,000 in nine weeks to meet their goal. Desperate for a new approach, they turned to one of their adult mentors. He challenged them, saying the project would not succeed until they were fully devoted in prayer. "Each of us committed to pray every single day about it," Peed said, "and that's when the money started coming in."

Those prayers changed not only their attitudes of fear and doubt toward the project, but also attitudes within the entire school—students, teachers, and administrators. The arguments ceased and a potent passion for Zambia ignited as hundreds of students mobilized to raise funds. Chaplain Huber said the cash poured in so quickly from so many different sources that he still to this day doesn't know where it all came from.

On May 2, the 2003 Zambia project reached its $53,000 goal. But funds from students continued to pour in the door. By May 22, they had $77,000—an increase of $24,000 in 20 days. Donations cleared $80,000 by the end of the project year, enough to pay for the schoolhouse and every other item in the One Life Revolution catalog. And on the day Peed graduated from Wheaton Academy, construction workers in the northern Zambian village of Kakolo began to lay the foundation for the new school.

The following academic year, student leaders attempted the impossible once again, continuing the project with the goal of raising $54,000 to feed the children of Kakolo for an entire year. They succeeded, raising almost $60,000. More students participated in a bigger way.

Zambia, all of Africa, and the AIDS pandemic became urgent concerns for Wheaton Academy's students. "The Zambia project has become very much a part of the fabric of campus life," said Huber, who estimates 90 percent of the student body has participated in the project financially. "We've fallen in love with the people. It's about relationship now—it's not just about a project."

Students now sense a connection to their Zambian peers, as well as a responsibility. Some sponsor Zambian children through agencies like World Vision. Others display pictures from Zambia as daily reminders of what life is like for children in Kakolo, and many students have dramatically changed their spending and giving habits.

The project's original team has graduated. But they are bringing to their college campuses the message of world needs as well as evidence that students can make a difference right now. "You always hear that. But you don't really buy into it until it's happened to you," said alumna Natalie Gorski.

"How awesome a God we have. He was able to use us as his instruments and say, 'Look at what I did through Wheaton Academy. I can do that all over the United States.'

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August 2005, Vol. 49, No. 8