“Plink! Plink! Plink!”

Do you hear that? It’s the sound of horse-loving kids everywhere dropping money into their piggy banks. Many of them have learned about Chincoteague ponies from the book Misty of Chincoteague by Marguerite Henry. They love the book so much they want to buy their own ponies too. That’s what two little girls named Ashley and Shannon wanted in 1995. They traveled to the pony swim with all their saved money: $500.

Five hundred dollars sounds like a lot, but it’s not a lot when you want to buy a horse. When the first pony came up for auction, Ashley yelled out “500!” But someone outbid her. At the next bid, she shouted “500!” again. Then she did it again—38 more times! But she could not win a pony. She and Shannon just didn’t have enough money. Just when the girls felt ready to give up, a lady and her husband approached them in the crowd. The lady’s name was Carrollyn Suplee. Imagine how surprised the girls were when she said, “We want to help you buy your pony!”

Mrs. Suplee took off her big, floppy hat. Underneath, her hair was very thin. It looked like it was just growing back. Mrs. Suplee had had cancer. She thought she would die, but God had healed her. She believed the verse she had read in the Bible: “He will cover you with His feathers, and under His wings you will find refuge.” (Psalm 91:4 NIV) Because God had been kind to her, she wanted to be kind to others. Soon, the girls were bidding on pony number 42, a horse that looked like it had white stockings on. The girls named it Sea Feather. As the years passed, Mrs. Suplee gave many other ponies to children who could not afford them. Mrs. Suplee died in 2003. But before she died, she started the Feather Fund. The fund’s name comes from the verse in Psalms. Every year, it awards two children a Chincoteague pony.