A ministry that sought to "renew America one child at a time" by paying young people $10 each to memorize the Ten Commandments has run out of money.
"We are victims of success," said retired florist George Kelley, 76. Donations couldn't keep pace with costs. So the Ten Commandments Project is on hold "until the Lord provides additional money." The program is honoring "memorization affidavits" received through last Saturday.
About 15,000 letters from children in all 50 states flooded the Kelleys' mailbox after newspapers nationwide published a December Associated Press report on the project.
Kelley said the ministry had written about 12,500 checks to children since the story ran, and was working to finish a few thousand others. Before the story, the Kelleys had distributed about $75,000 to children since it began in 1997.
The ministry was born after a part-time cook killed seven workers at three Tennessee restaurants in a string of slayings that terrorized the Nashville area.
Kelley and wife Marion, both Presbyterians, saw the crimes as a sign that young people did not understand right from wrong and started the project, with help from friends.
To qualify for the $10, U.S. children 16 or younger had to recite the commandments to a minister or other "authorized" adult witness other than a parent then who signed an affidavit.