Someone You Should Know: Helping kids in need

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (Dakota News Now) – Doyle Becker has a drive to help kids almost six-thousand miles away.

“A group of kids that just have so little. These are all orphaned kids. Once you saw how much need there is there. It just kind of sits on your heart, and you just wanted to help,” said Doyle.

Doyle is a treasurer for an organization called the Hope for the Hopeless H2O. Which helps a group of kids in the African country of Liberia.

“The well was really bad. They were having to walk miles to get fresh water for the kids. You know, there wasn’t much in terms of food,” said Doyle.

Because of that, he helps coordinate fundraisers here. Besides basic needs, they’ve built a dormitory for the kids to live in and a school.

“That’s one of the big drives right now. We’re trying to fund our school. Because every year, the kids get older. We’re having to add grade levels, especially in the high school, and those teachers need certifications. And I’ve got to mention this, a teacher there, we pay our teachers $70 a month,” said Doyle.

For Doyle, who’s in his 32nd year of teaching math at Washington High School, he’s gone to Liberia two different times. And his friends and students have helped with the mission.

“We do child sponsorship. Fifty dollars a month for child sponsorship. We’ve got eighty-plus kids now and we’ve got thirty with a sponsor. We’d like to see more people get on board. There’s a lot of different volunteer opportunities. If we do an event, if we do concessions, we have kids come and help with that,” said Doyle.

He says it’s a calling. Something he’ll continue when he’s done teaching.

“I plan to do this. I’m a couple of years from retirement. I’m thinking about what I want to do in terms of how much longer I want to continue to teach math. But at the same time, when I do give that up, this is going to be more of a full-time venture for me,” said Doyle.

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