Emily Bohanon had never designed a T-shirt before but didn’t have any trouble deciding what to put on her first shirt to help orphaned children in the Dominican Republic.

It was helping hands — just like the handprints she’d seen on the walls of Pasitos de Jesus, the orphanage for girls that 36 Triad teen-agers and 14 adults visited during their trip to the country June 22-28, 2014.

“They showed us a video at Sunday School about their trip, and I saw they had used the girls’ handprints on the walls as decorations,” Bohanon said. “I draw a lot, and thought designing a T-shirt would be fun to do.”

Fellow Radiate High School Ministry member Abby Hurst had suggested creating a T-shirt after High School Youth Pastor Jared Hoots asked his youth for Pasitos fundraising ideas.

“People can always use T-shirts, and I thought it would be a good way to build awareness, and spark conversations,” Hurst said.

Triad’s Radiate high school ministry is currently selling the shirts (200 of them) for $10 apiece.

Anonymous donor will double total if all shirts sold

Since the church’s T-shirt vendor donated the shirts, all $10 goes to the project designed to send girls at Pasitos to private school. An anonymous donor has agreed to double the initial $2,000 if youth sell all the shirts.

Since they don’t have birth certificates, girls at Pasitos can’t attend public school in the Dominican Republic. About 10 could attend school for a year if $4,000 was raised, Hoots said. The Doulos Sunday School also hopes to raise additional money to nearly double the number.

Hoots said he brought the issue of Pasitos and education for its orphans to Radiate after receiving a plea from Score International, the group that the Triad group worked under last summer.

Most of the shirts are size small, medium, and large with a few extra large sizes. Buy them at the Awake Café, Media Center, and Church Office. Cash or checks are accepted for payment. Make checks payable to Triad Baptist Church with a designation to “Pasitos fundraiser.”

“We are hoping to sell out of all 200 shirts, and make more,” Hoots said. “The more we sell, the more opportunities girls at Pasitos have to get an education.”