Rebecca Hoover recently learned about the power of zucchini.

Last spring, the 9-year-old fourth-grader at Hinkletown Mennonite School bought $10 worth of zucchini seeds and grew the squash all summer at her New Holland home.

She sold the best of her crop from a roadside stand and used the $20 profit to buy food for a dinner at her church.

That meal raised $700, which she donated to her school.

Rebecca's generosity was matched by that of more than 150 of her peers: students who grew corn, raised a steer or made rabbit hutches, Nativity scenes, quilts, apple butter, egg rolls, silk flowers or bracelets.

By selling their goods, the children raised more than $4,000 to pay for desks, chairs and other furniture at their school, which recently underwent a $2.1 million expansion.

Hinkletown students didn't have to look far to find inspiration for their generosity.

Their parents and other family members also gave to the project, donating more than $160,000 worth of labor and materials and thousands more in monetary contributions.

"This was a big accomplishment for a school this size," said Ruth Leaman, Hinkletown's director of development.

"There's a lot of ownership and community at our school, and we tried to make the fundraising a community effort as well."

Students became involved in April, when Leaman gave each of them $10 in seed funds with a simple challenge: Make the money grow as much as you can by October.

Participation was optional, but only one pupil in the student body of 167 returned the $10, Leaman said.

While many students chose to make brownies or cookies, other projects were a bit more creative.

Darren King's family loves egg rolls, so his mother, Marilyn, suggested making them to sell to members of their church, Hinkletown Mennonite.

She got a recipe from a friend from Cambodia and set up two deep fryers in her kitchen.

On Sept. 18, she, Darren and other family members spent nearly 12 hours cooking 600-plus egg rolls, which they delivered to customers that weekend.

Their $10 blossomed into more than $300.

Second-grader Bailey Reiff originally wanted to sell lemonade, but her mother, Joleen, talked her into something bigger — much bigger.

Bailey helped raise Peyton, a dairy beef calf that was sold at the Denver Fair for $500. Joleen's cousin, Gale Switzer, sold the calf to Bailey for $10, a huge loss, Joleen Reiff said.

Beginning in August, Bailey helped feed the calf and "muck out" its stall. As the fair approached, she also helped wash and bed down Peyton.

Her daughter learned that "it takes a lot of work to care for animals and that if we want to raise a lot of money, we have to think big," Joleen Reiff said.

Bailey also learned the realities of raising a calf for market.

"It was hard for her to give up that animal she had come to love," her mother said. "There were a lot of tears."

Although she misses Payton, Bailey said she enjoyed the experience.

"It's fun, and we earned a lot of money for the school," she said. "I like to take care of the school and help."

Unlike capital campaigns for other private schools, the Hinkletown effort didn't benefit from huge donors, Leaman said. The single largest donation was less than $500,000.

More than 200 hundred individuals and families gave relatively small amounts, she said.

Many family members also helped build the school by installing wiring or drywall, purchasing solar panels for a radiant heating system or cleaning up construction debris at the end of each work day to cut costs.

Construction began in mid-May, and students moved into the new wing Oct. 5.

The 20,000-square-foot addition includes seven classrooms for kindergarten through grade five and a new entrance, lobby and administrative suite.

The second phase, which officials hope will be completed by the start of next school year, will include a new library and classrooms for grades six through eight.

All but about $300,000 has been raised for the first phase; the school will need another $450,000 to complete phase two.

Leaman said she's encouraged by "the positive energy and enthusiasm" surrounding the school, which boosted its enrollment by 10 percent this year and plans to add a pre-kindergarten program next year.

Hinkletown is not part of the Lancaster Mennonite School system, nor is it affiliated with a single church, she said.

Instead, it's a "patron-owned" school, Leaman said, run and controlled by the parents of current students.

Joleen Reiff said she's confident those parents will help make phase two a reality.

"It's not unusual for us to have a goal, to pull together and to see it to fruition to make the school successful," she said.

Hinkletown Mennonite School will host a dedication and open house at 3 p.m. Sunday.

bwallace@lnpnews.com