At first, Olivia Hayse received an email from a stranger in Australia that claimed he wanted to donate more than $15,000 to her Springfield employer – but first he needed their bank account and check routing numbers.
“We thought this is a scam for sure and just ignored it.
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At first, Olivia Hayse received an email from a stranger in Australia that claimed he wanted to donate more than $15,000 to her Springfield employer – but first he needed their bank account and check routing numbers.
“We thought this is a scam for sure and just ignored it.
More emails came. And they ignored them too.
Hayse works for the James Project, a Springfield charity that helps foster children. And she couldn’t imagine why a couple they didn’t know, in a country on the other side of the planet would want to send them a big check.
But the Aussies became more persistent and kept leaving messages on the office phone.
“He had a thick Australian accent and we didn’t know what to think,” Hayse said,
Finally, they connected with the fellow.
“It turns out that his family wants to start a ministry that helps foster families in Australia and they wanted to call it the ‘James Project.’ When they googled the name, they found out there was a ministry in Springfield with the same name that is essentially doing the same thing they want to do. They prayed about it and said they felt called to first give to our ministry before starting their own.”
The Springfield ministry affiliated with more than a dozen area churches has since received a check for $15,800 from the family down under, who has said they wish to remain anonymous.
Both the James Projects in Springfield and Brisbane are named after the Bible verse James 1:27 which says: “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.”