Child Sponsorship

[Valandil]

Do any of you sponsor children through agencies which make those things available?

We do. What's amazing is how far just a little money to us (in relatively wealthy 'western' nations) goes in third world areas.

If you choose to do so, check out the organization you sponsor through. Some eat up the bulk of the money that comes in (maybe even 80% or more) in overhead costs - before any of it even gets overseas. Others pay exhorbitant fees to celebrity spokespersons - ironically, money not sent to help children, but it actually boosts total receipts for these organizations and that's why they use them.

We first sponsored a child through a very good group called 'World Vision'. Later, we found out that our own church had a similar sponsorship program at the denominational level, so we got into that instead (but kept sponsoring our World Vision child until that 'project' dovetailed).

So - just wanted to see if anyone else around here does so... I thought of this now because we just got a card from a little boy we sponsor in Lebanon. (Uh - we're addicts... we have multiple sponsorships!)

[Linaewen]

I've always wanted to sponsor a child, and now that I have the money to do so myself, I'll be doing that soon. I want to sponsor a child from South East Asia preferably, as well as an African or South American child in the future.

Our school sponsors an Indonesian child. We raise the funds by having pizza, chocolate croissant and noodle days. Yummo! We're hoping to be able to sponsor a second child this year.

[Rían]

Hey, what a great thread, Valandil - and it's so true that a little money goes a long way in many countries.

Our family sponsors 3 kids in Uganda. What's really neat is that our church has an ongoing relationship with the church back there that runs the orphanage (several hundred kids) - my brother-in-law has been over there, and we've had the Ugandan pastor over for dinner at our house (lovely accent!), and our pastor goes over and visits there, and the Ugandan pastor comes over here. We just finished building a high school building over there, and a much improved kitchen.

Another great organization is Children's Hunger Fund, which is run by Dave Phillips, who is a friend of ours (and he's the nephew of Keith Phillips, who is the head of World Vision, btw!). Also my bro-in-law works for Children's Hunger Fund, and my husband just went on the board of directors. They work mainly thru obtaining overflow products from organizations, and thru a lot of volunteer work, so their costs are only like 3% or so, which means 97% goes directly to the needy. Fabulous organization! Its website is www.childrenshungerfund.org. Be careful it's the right one, tho, because there's a ripoff organization with a similar name.

[Twista]

I sponcer the NSPCA... Its a charity for abandoned dogs.. not really the same, but still im giving something!

[Valandil]

Originally posted by Twista
I sponcer the NSPCA... Its a charity for abandoned dogs.. not really the same, but still im giving something!

Well... another worthy cause - and there certainly are many humanitarian and humane causes we can give toward.

However, I was especially interested in hearing from others who give to a program where you sponsor a specific child from a third world country or other difficult circumstance (ie - one of ours is to help with education of a girl on an Indian Reservation). Generally you'll get a photo and other information about the child - and sometimes you can write them and/or receive mail.

[Millane]

one of mums friends gifts to people this year were special cards from world vision, basically saying that you had provided injections to x amount of people, or helped feed this number of people for so long, i thought that was a really good idea for christmas and it did feel better than me just eating a box of chocolates

[Sister Golden Hair]

Some time ago I had considered doing this through Christian Children's Fund, after seeing one of those commercials on tv that are so heart breaking. I sent for the information, but then I saw a commercial for Project Learn and that was what I went with. I worked for them for sometime and found it to be very rewarding.

[Khamûl]

Even if you can't sponsor a child, here's something you can do to donate 1.1 cups of food (absolutely free) every day, just by clicking your mouse.

www.thehungersite.com

[johnnyrod]

I have a little lad in Malawi called Owen who is 8 in J, and I sponsor him through World Vision. Before that I had another little lad in Kenya for several years, but his family recently moved away from the areas where the charity operates, so they gave me a new kid. I first heard about it from a radio advert, and there was no reason not to as it doesn't cost that much. I don't feel like it's much, but everything counts and it can go a long way.

[Valandil]

Interesting idea for any smokers out there who are trying to quit:

A radio station in my area is having a child sponsorship drive - encouraging people to take up $26 monthly World Vision sponsorships. One person called in and said they were going to give up smoking and would use part of THAT money (which would be about three times that for a pack-a-day smoker, right?) to sponsor a child!

Any smokers around here inclined to give it a try?

[brownjenkins]

i give money to just about anyone who asks... i'm a pushover like that

i haven't done many of the 'official' ones though... it's hard to tell where the money goes

i also do work with children's theatre, which is free for the kids involved and also donates part of the proceeds to various charities, though i believe they are the more local kind

[BeardofPants]

Will you give me money, bj? *hugs*

I've wanted to for the longest time, but I barely make enough to pay the mortgage at the moment.

[Hanza]

my class used to sponser a child in kenya. we paid for him to go to school and gave him i think £3 a week. which gave hima nough to feed him and his family. it was passed down to us from the last year 11 class. now we havemoved up t year 12 we have passed him on again. we wrote letters to him and gave him presents at xmas too.

also in my school we do something called "good cause" every friday your class collects money. so like your spare cahnge fromt he week and it is sent to the charity you have chosen.its a really good way for the whole school to get involved and support somethign u want to.

aswel as this our school is now in corresondence with two school one in kenya and one in india. we have had kids come from the kenyan one. some pupils have penpals there and write to each other. we raise money for each other to improve facilities and such like. its really good

[Bombadillo]

My hats off to you, Val, Rian, and Twista. I don't have the chance to sponsor like that officially, but it's so impressive. I drop change into the tin cans at the Quik Chek for beaten children sometimes, but I don't even go to Quik Chek often. Are contributions to third world countries affected so greatly just by the exchange rate? How does the money go such a long way?

[gollum9630]

I dont personaly sponsor a child, but my school sends a lot of money from our monthly jeans days to an orphanage in Nicaragua. Some of the money also goes to a local shelter for the homeless in Vancouver that students in my school go to once a month. I have wanted to go, but unfortuanatly its only on Sundays, and I am always busy on Sundays. Also, recently my school sent 6 stident and 3 teachers to Tijuana to build houses for people there

[Carafin]

My family sponsors two children(one in Bolivia, one in Mali), one for each of us (my brother, and myself) and we've been doing it for a while. I think it's good, even though I don't write to the little girl, I used to write, when the child we had was closer to my age.
We work through World Vision; is it a good program when it comes to overhead? I'm sure my parents would be interested.
I wish I could sponsor by myself, but I'm going to university next year, and will be scrimping for money as it is.