The bells should be ringing again soon at St. George’s Anglican Church on Guelph St. thanks to the efforts of two area children and the generosity of the community.
The Kennedy family that lives on Albert St. has been missing the ringing of the church’s bells since its antiquated original electronic system broke down last winter. So Jonah, 6, and Abbey Kennedy, 5, decided to do something about it, and with the help of mom Lesli, they set up a lemonade stand with the hopes of raising $100 by the end of the summer to be donated to the church towards restoring the bells.
A story on the siblings’ lemonade stand appeared in last Wednesday’s Independent & Free Press, and that morning the newspaper had received an e-mail from Georgetown business Minus Forty Technologies Corp. offering to donate to the church $3,000— the total amount needed for a new computer-driven bell system.
After reading the story, the company, that has many employees who live in town and heard the bells many times, met on what they could do for the church.

“As a company we all decided it would be an excellent opportunity to give back to the community we all work in and love,” said Tricia

McLean of Minus Forty. “Our social committee decided to give a donation and the company as a whole gave the balance to ensure the bells would be repaired. We can’t wait to hear the sound resonate throughout the town once again.”
The church had been searching for ways of finding money to have the bells functional and looking at a few scenarios to cover the $3,000 cost of the replacement system.
Minus Forty was not the only one to come forward with money for the church.
After reading the story Thursday, John Vieira, owner of J.V. Clothing in Georgetown Market Place, who has also enjoyed hearing the bells over the years, was so impressed with what Jonah and Abbey were doing he decided to help out by trying to raise the needed funds from merchants in the mall.
In no time, he had donations from Nails In Style, Vanderburgh Flowers, Sayal Dentistry, Brilliant Gold Jewellery, Bergsma’s Paint & Wallpaper, Family Optical (Georgetown), Dentistry on Sinclair and J.V. Clothing. Also making donations were Allison’s Sweet Corn, Fargo Transportation Services Ltd. and Fraser Direct.
Cheques were presented to the church Monday. Extra money raised may tentatively be used by the church to upgrade its audio-visual system.
 “St. George’s is overwhelmed by the support of the community and we are extremely thankful these young children have taken this initiative,” said Rev. Nancy Rowe. “At this young age they have been community-minded and vibrant and wonderful examples of what Georgetown has to look forward to in the future.”
Rowe said the church will move to restore the bells when St. George’s rector Rev. Canon Rob Park returns from vacation next month.
“I’m overwhelmed,” said Ian Oldaker, rector’s warden at the church.
The instigators of all the money coming to the church were thrilled with the outcome.
“I never thought we would get this much money,” said Jonah. Abbey said she was “happy” so much was raised for the church.
Scott Kennedy, the youngsters’ father, said the family was “just thrilled by the generosity of the community.”
“The outpouring for the community has just been a real blessing,” said Lesli Kennedy.