Letter Writing Ideas

Does anybody know about sending candy? Is it okay to send them candy if it meets the required size (and is unopened of course)???

Kids in the developed world have access to great educational systems, but our sponsored children have more challenges. I try to supplement what they are doing in school by sending age- appropriate educational materials. I try to remember what my own kids were studying in school when they were younger and include pages on art, science, history and culture. I remind the sponsored kids what an amazing world God has created and how pleased He is when we learn about Him through learning about His world. I’ve also just started researching famous sites in their own countries. Not only am I learning a great deal, but I’m encouraging them to be proud of their unique and beautiful lands.

Have many of you written to the parents of the moms, to encourage and help them as they care for their children…..just wondering what kind of response you have had.
Thanks

Sorry I reread that I meant to say “OR the moms” of the children.

Hi Sherry
I have found that most of the mothers or grandmothers depending on who they live with help the kids with the letters. So they are part of the process. I have visited all 3 kids I sponsor and for the younger kids the parents seamed to be more thankful of the visit. One child I sponsor…the first time I visited her was on a sponsor tour so the parents do not travel to the city only the project case worker and the grandmother was very sad they could not also meet me. On a 2nd trip I had the chance to meet the family and the grandmother was very happy to meet me. I think maybe happier than the child. The parents really like it when we include them in the letters.

Yes I write with 2 moms of sponsorkids. They are so happy that we picked THEIR child. It makes me feel a little ashamed, they are so happy that we picked their child, they feel so special about it, while I think of course your child deserve this! The moms are of my age (24) and they have 3-4 kids, it’s a completely different world. I’m glad I can help them. I think especially the moms need our courage en prayers.

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I did not realize you could send letters/gits to parents or siblings. How is that done?

I was reading some of the blogs from Compassion and saw someone had written to the parents. I feel that God is asking me to do that too. It would give me a clearer picture of their needs.
Compassion says that the one child is just an entrance point into the family.
I am just going to write the child using her number and send along with it a letter to her mom. I feel the parents need to know just as much as the child that God’s love is for them too. Maybe I can send something to that mom that she has wanted for a long time, (pictures, information, knowledge, etc.)
If the mothers and fathers can feel loved by God and feel happy, the better care they will give to their children.

No candy or gum can be sent.

I have a BRAND new sponsored child, I just sponsored her a few days ago, she will be 15 in April and lives in El Salvador. I know that in that part of the world the 15th birthday is very special. I am looking for ways to help make that especially memorable. Any ideas???

Can you send magnets? I sponsor a little girl in Uganda and she is 5 (soon to be 6) and found a princess magnetic play scene that is small. Will this go through? I also always send stuff in my letters and have vowed to wrte at least once a month. I always bring a pack of stuff with me to work and write when we get slow. I also make it a point to collect postcards when I travel and send these so she can see other parts of our country. And big packs of stickers can be used for several letters. I also try and find fun cards to send that she can keep. I love getting letters from her….it makes my whole day!!

no magnets, i even asked about tiny chalkboards.no…
they want items to be flat and made of paper or cardboard.. they have alot of mail to go out each week,,needs to be controlled by size and weight. and many things will send up a red flag at customs, and then they will pull out the box and go over all of it again to find the problem,,holding not only your letter up, but everyone’s. best to stick with stickers, color books, books, paper dolls, scrapbook materiels photos. etc..

it will take along time, but anyone new here;,, i really suggest you read all the posts here.. there are great ideas proven to work or not work….read so far and just remember the # you were on and read another time…it is worth your while

I don’t understand how Samaritain’s Purse has “Operation Christmas Child” and actually asks people to fill shoe boxes with goodies and ships them to underpriveledged children all around the world and we can only send paper items under 1/4″ thick to the children we sponsor. Would it really be THAT hard to allow more options as far as sending our sponsored children stuff? At least for Christmas and birthdays? I’m not mad about this, I’m just saying that I think it is possible for things to be better than they are.If Samaritains’s Purse can do it, I think Compassion could find a way. It’s just very frustrating.
But, as far as ideas for sending things, I got some blow party favors that I am going to try to send. They are made out of cardboard so hopefully they will let them go through.

Kelsey,

Samaritain’s Purse can deliver those “Operation Christmas Child” shoeboxes overseas because they ask for a minumum $7.00 donation per box to cover shipping the boxes in mass and paying for customs fees.

I’m very grateful that Compassion uses each of my monthly $38.00 payments to directly benefit my sponsored children, not to pay customs fees. Furthermore, all five of my sponsored children have been thrilled with the bookmarks, photos, postcards, notepads, paper scrapbooks, stickers, paperdolls, coloring books and paperback books (in their own languages) that I have sent.

Don’t forget you can send monetary child, birthday and family gifts. That way the family, with the guidance ofthe project staff, can buy larger, bulkier items.

I’m glad Compassion doesn’t get itself bogged down into package courier service. They keep the overhead as low as possible and apply OUR money where it should be focused…holistic development of OUR children.

Kelsey, I agree and unlike you I am frustrated. There is so much we could send that would still be small that would actually be helpful. Last year on the website it said we were able to send 6 inch plastic rulers. I bought about 50 thinking they could share with siblings and friends. I received a letter saying it was no longer allowed. I have had things go through that made me happy but it would be so nice to send some different things. Especially for birthday or Christmas as you mentioned. I try so hard to find different kinds of stickers and other allowable things but how many stickers do they really need? I write often (apparently too often, I was asked to cut down) and hope some day soon they relax the limitations. I was thinking a pair of socks would fit nicely in the envelope, it must get cold in the winter months. I think your party favors should go through.

Pastor Prakash

I have been SO lucky with pictures. I have received a new picture for every birthday and family gift I have sent and with two of the children I have received pictures for no reason. It has been so special to ‘meet’ the whole family, I have looked at those pictures so often I bought a laminator so I don’t ruin the pictures. They are my treasures. This year, thanks to you, I am going to ask that each child receive a soccer ball as part of their gift.

Kathy,
That is crazy you were asked to NOT write as many letters! I can’t believe they told you that! I would think that they would encourage correspondence with the children.
The socks sound like a good idea. I read on the requirements that nothing fabric could be sent. If they go through please let me know.

Sandy,
I am glad that Compassion does not charge us with the cost of customs. All I am saying is that I think that it should be an OPTION. If I was able to send my child a package of things he needed I would gladly make an extra $7.00 (or more) payment.
I am not tight with my money when it comes to these kids. If anyone out there is so concerned about saving a buck here and there, World Vision has children that need sponsored and it costs $35 a month. That saves you $3.00.
Please do not take this as a hate comment. It is not intended to be.
Compassion tells us to be creative in finding things to send. I think Compassion needs to get creative and find ways for us to send our children things bigger than a magazine. Let the letters go on through and send the packages to customs. It is okay if it takes a little longer to reach the child.

Well said Sandy. Yes it would be nice to send other items that we are not allowed to send but that would cost more to ship and that would take away from the money that compassion is using to help them. Just look at it this way, is a $7 item going to help them in the long run or is $7 towards their education/health going to help them in the long run. And the kids are soo happy with anything they get. My husband is from an african country(Nigeria) & I have a few friends who are from Ethiopia who have seen the kind of poverty that these kids live in. And they all said that these people are some of the happiest people to be around. They may not have much but they are thankful & happy for what they have.
You could always find a shelter or something here in the US where you could bring socks/clothes/toiletries…etc to help them.

I found this website recently:
http://www.childrenstory.info/biblestoryforchild/cb1.html if you cut and paste this into your browser, there are coloring pages for 61 Old Testament stories and 36 New Testament stories. My kids love these!

Kelsey,

Are you aware that World Vision works in many countries that forbid the Gospel? That they warned sponsors of children in these countries not to mentioning Jesus or anything Christian in their letters…that it could endanger the project workers and children? Good works…no fruit there.

And are you encouraging CI sponsors to abandon their CI sponsored kids and the Christian education the kids are receiving? If we are still here after the $6.00 price increase this past summer, $3.00 less somewhere else probably isn’t an issue. Christ first…always.

And finally, if you feel the need to say “please do not take this as a hate comment,” you probably need to rethink and re-evaluate your comment.

Becky,
Are you saying that Operation Christmas Child is not a worth wile project??? I agree that they may not NEED SOME of the items that I would want to be able to send, but they dont really NEED stickers,photos, etc. either and those cost money too. Me and my family usually fill shoe boxes for Operation Christmas Child and most of the stuff in the shoe boxes consists of school items and hygiene items anyway. I definitly think the child would benefit from it.
Also I am not saying that it should take away from the money that Compassion is using to help them,I think we should be able to send bigger items at an added cost.

Becky,

You’re right…these children are most thankful people I know!

Kelsy, it sounds to me like giving the sponsors options would give additional work to Compassion employees, thereby taking them away from other jobs, or costing compassion more in other ways. I do not agree that it doesn’t matter if it takes longer to get there, either. I want my children to get my prayer requewsts, etc. in enough time to keep them relevant.

Just a few comments:

@ Kathy Olsen
“Last year on the website it said we were able to send 6 inch plastic rulers. I bought about 50 thinking they could share with siblings and friends. I received a letter saying it was no longer allowed.”
According to the October Advocate Letter Writing Training Class, Plastic Rulers (within size limitations) is acceptable to send.
Try calling to verify this if you like. I just checked and it has not been updated on the website yet.

Also: “I try so hard to find different kinds of stickers and other allowable things but how many stickers do they really need?”
I visited my girls in Burkina Faso in February 2008, let me tell you, these kids LOVE stickers, and when I was able to deliver the gifts that I had purchased for one of my girls, after she had opened her gifts I heard her softly say, “no stickers?”, She wasn’t being ungrateful, she had just longed for stickers. Such a simple pleasure for them. I had brought her stickers, but I ended up giving them to her Project Center. That taught me the value of stickers, I’m tellin’ ya, they LOVE them.

We need to put things into perspective. Yes when you give something personal it means a lot to the child and family. I have visited all 3 children I sponsor/ sponsored and they do value the little things I gave them. But the way the system is set up it is not practical to ship boxes because we do not have the church address. And most people do not want to send things. Before I left for my last mission’s trip I went around and asked people if they wanted me to bring something for their children. Only one family sent me something to bring. One project I visited has 400 kids… I write every month… they thought that was amazing I am like the only sponsor in the project that writes that much and regularly sends family gifts. I was like a hero to them compared to others but I really don’t do that much…send an email once a month and a few extra dollars a year. Most people write 2 or 3 times a year and never send extra money to help the family.

Each type of ministry is complementing each other; and if you want more personal contact you can sponsor children through smaller ministries or directly with local churches. I can give you names in the Philippines if you are looking to change…. Compassion moves money from the developed world to the developing world. Yes I have frustrations with this but that is what they do…other organizations send western missionaries that I can have personal contact with…send boxes…but that’s not how compassion operates. I also would be reluctant to criticize world vision for working in closed countries. I know some people that work in closed countries (10/40 window) and most of the un-reached people live in this part of the world. And helping the people is the first step to reaching them.

Kelsey,
I am not saying that at all. I think you are missing my point. My point is don’t be frustrated or disappointed with the shipping restrictions because our money is being put to good use & the kids are thankful for what we can send, they would be thankful with just a letter. It seems like you are putting compassion down for not letting us ship other items or pay the extra cost. When it is read it is taken very negative towards compassion & that’s not what this blog is for. And I am not saying that the kids in other countries wouldn’t benefit from it, but these are compassions rules & there are reasons for these restrictions & I think we need to respect compassion & not take the restrictions as a negative thing. If you want to do that for children there are plenty of ways to do it. Like the christmas operation project, or adopt a family for christmas, or christmas angels.

And I am not writing this because of hate I am writing this to tell you how your post was viewed that’s all. I think it’s great that you want to help other people in need it’s just we need to respect compassion on their decision making.

Sandy,
So now you are saying World Vision is not worthwhile either?I AM NOT saying that people should abandon their Compassion Child. I am not saying that all. All I was saying was if not spending extra money on our child to give him other things was an issue for some people that there are actually other ways to help people around the word that do not cost as much. Example: There are 5 children dying every 2 minutes because they do not have clean water to drink. LIFE outreach International takes donations to dig wells for them.$24 will provide a lifetime of clean water for 5 people. Thats probably more important than another child’s education, but still I sponsor a child on Compassion too. Furthermore, the reason I said that this was not a a hate comment before is because some people get so offended if anyone starts to rock their boat and think of ways to improve things. And even after I said it, you still took it as one. Becky Little said she was not writing her comment out of hate either and she is on your side. Do you think hers is a hate comment too? Probably not, because she agrees with you…
This is rediculous, the only reason I said anything in the first place was to see if anything could be done with sending things. It was not meant to be negative at all. I am just going to have to stop getting on here,I came for ideas and suggestions but all I get is people bashing me for having an idea. You people take things way out of context!

BTW, more things to do would generate more jobs in this declining economy. And since compassion lists the areas that people need to fill as “EMPLOYMENT Opportunities ” I assume people get paid for it.

Kelsey,
It was more that I was sending too many goodies, especially after I became attached to the siblings as well. I would send packages to them too. I offered to pay the cost of all my mail but it was explained, and I fully understand, that while I send all this stuff, other kids in the project would rarely receive a letter, let alone all the extra goodies. It does make sense, and I am fully happy to comply. I had been searching for 19 years for an organization like Compassion. I had always wanted to send things directly to a child and the family. I think that’s why I send and write so much. I have had this burning desire to do this and had to wait so long. I am making up for 19 years all at once. Compassion is the ONLY sponsor organization where we may directly affect the child by sending little goodies and sending a family gift. I am just thrilled they upped the limit we may send. We are absolutely changing their lives through Compassion. Every other sposnor program I looked into was the same, you may sponsor a child but you may not send anything to the child or family, it had to be to the project as a whole. Compassion has been a dream come true for me, but I find myself picking things out for my kids and wishing I could send a t-shirt, a baseball hat, socks or other goodies to them. I do take comfort in knowing I send a family gift each year and have seen the difference it is making. I love these kids like they were my own, it’s crazy how attached I have become to them. I feel so blessed for this opportunity.

So…This particular topic notifies me by e-mail, so that I get every comment in my mailbox. it feels to me like everyone has gotten what they want to say to Kelsey’s topic out, and continuing on the topic would only be for argument’s sake. I like this topic becausde of the creativity people come up with for the things we are allowed to send, but I’m a little tired of receiving e-mails of arguments, especially since the arguments seem to be basing off of misunderstandings of meanings and hurt feelings. This isn’t pretty at all, and it doesn’t seem to be carrying anyone towards a positive result. I’m ready for people to drop the argument and move back to the awesome paper items people discover to put in envelopes, please.

Kelsey,

One more thing you should consider. Operation Christmas Child can send boxes for $7.00 per because they send them in large groups. The money doesn’t just pay for customs and postage, it also pays for someone to “babysit” the package to make sure the items aren’t stolen. An individual $7.00 or even $20.00 couldn’t pay for that.

If it helps any, know that all Compassion children do receive school supplies and hygiene items, as well as a yearly doctor visit (my Mother’s child always includes when she has seen the doctor recently). Extra money you send can be used to buy “fun clothes” (the boy in South America mentions when he gets material for his uniform, but always let’s us know what he spent birthday or Christmas money on. This year it was a pretty sweater and a nice pair of pants.)

I think we would all LIKE to be able to send more things. But these items would never make it to the children. If you really feel a burden to send something larger and personal look through the planned sponsor trips and ask if someone going on the trip would be willing to deliver the item to the local office. That is the only way you would know a larger item made it through.

I think we can all agree that anything you give to a child is for the glory of God no matter who you give it from. Compassion isn’t perfect, but they are trying hard and I believe succeeding in carrying out a difficult but worthwhile mission.

-Andrea

P.S. I think a fun thing to send for older kids could be comic books with staples removed.

I found several websites offering Bible coloring pages by typing “Children’s Spanish Bible Stories” into google. Among them was http://ministry-to-children.com/free-sunday-school-lesson-plans-for-children-sunday-school-lessons/ which had several stories with coloring pages that can be printed for free! Also, http://children.calvarychapel.com/SITE/curriculum_n.htm looked good! I suspect such is available in other languages, as well. You will need to send a letter each week just to get in all the available lessons!

And, I found a neat kit today at Hobby Lobby, a box which has foam mosaic projects that can easily be placed between 2 pieces of cardstock and sent so the child can do his/her mosaic project with the small adhesive mosaic squares. There has been some discussion about whether foam is allowable; I am going to try it as it is quite thin, light, and non-metal.

And, if your child speaks Spanish, there are thin Bible storybooks in Spanish at Lifeway for only a small price, so the child could have an actual book.

Here is a great idea for Spanish-speaking sponsored chldren:

Concordia Publishing House publishes the Libros Arco series of 30 rhyming Bible stories in Spanish. Each book is paperback, beautifully illustrated, 16 pages long, and suitable for ages 5-9, possibly older children as well (depending on their reading skills). The dimensions are well with in limits, at 8″ X 6-1/4″ X 1/8″.

Barnes & Noble carries a few titles online, as does christianbook.com. I wanted to be sure my child in El Salvador will eventually receive the full set, so I went straight to the source. At Concordia’s website (www.cph.org), I ordered the full set for less than $80.00 delivered.

I’m so excited! For the next 30 months, I have a great gift to send Merari in each monthly letter, along with stickers, photos,bookmarks,etc…..

@ Alaina- thats a great website thanks for sharing it!
@Jan C- thats also a very helpful website, thanks!

I got a letter from my little girl and at the end it said, “sending love and a Big Bug your way…”
it took me a minute to figure out it was suposed to say Big Hug, it was a typoe and i told Laura about it so in the next letter she drew a picutre of a a bug hugging both of us. its our litle inside joke now

Thanks, Sandy! I will certainly check into that publication (Libros Arco)! I wish I could have such publications available for another girl we sponsor from India! Does anyone know of resources available for children of lesser spoken dialects (mine doesn’t speak Hindi or Bengali…)?

Are these children given Bibles in their own language as a result of participating in a Compassion school?

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Hi all,

My mother and I forced all our family members into letting us take headshots during our Thanksgiving Day get together. Then we printed out all the photos fairly small and constructed a photo family tree using them. We wrote everyone’s name and birthday under the picture and included our sponsor kids (made a photocopy of their sponsorship photo to use) too. I then made color copies of our final piece and laminated them at FedEx Kinko’s.

We are sending these to our children with their Christmas cards. Over the next few months we’ll send stories about family members. Or mention what we did for a family member’s birthday. Since I have a large family I thought this was a nice way to keep them organized and to show them that they are a part of our family too!

-Andrea

I had fun reading all of your comments , so many great ideas.An inspiration I got after reading your suggestions was making a gift contribution specifically to be used to buy Christmas gifts for the siblings of my sponsered boy because as we all know Compassion has a policy of enrolling only one child per family in it’s program.I feel like all childern deserve gifts at Christmas time.Another suggestion I have is is my little brother gets magazines like Ranger Rick after he’s done with them Ill tear out pages to send to my little guy.

Thanks for the great ideas that you’ve all shared. Here are some of my own. Dot to dots and color by numbers are cool and you can find some online through search engines that you can print out for free. I pick up blank, bright-colored note cards and stickers. You can use letter stickers and design their name on the front or you could use scrapbooking stickers and make a scene. Target had some really nice nativity stickers. It was the whole scene: Mary, Joseph, baby Jesus, sheep, angels, stars, everything. Each character was a separate sticker so you can design the scene however you’d like and then you can send your children a sheet and they can design the scene the way they’d like. You can also send some blank note cards so that the child can design a card of their own to give to their tutor, friend, or family member. If it snows where you live, take pictures. You can write their name in the snow or make a snowman and send them the photos. Also, you can make those snowflakes out of construction paper and send those along. Poems are also nice. You can write them about anything. If you can find your child’s name online and the meaning behind it, you could type that up and laminate it and send that along if it’s appropriate. One last idea is stories. When I was little, I used to get Highlights magazine. They had stories each month where they would replace a couple of the words with pictures. You could type one up on your own computer in a cool font and color and insert clipart pictures for some of the words, for example, a cartoon picture of a dog instead of the word dog. You can be as creative as you’d like with the story and adjust them according to age. Hope some of these ideas can work for you!

thanks Diana, great ideas. I sent pictures of the snow & snowmen & & told my child what snow is & how it feels, I like the idea of the paper snowflakes. I explained that we have 4 seasons & one is winter. & then for each season we are in I will send pictures & tell them about that season. My child only has 2 seasons we he lives & that is dry & rain season so our seasons are very different. thanks again for ideas.

Good ideas, connie! My vet puts little pictures of each dog when he gives us a receipt. I talk a lot about my 3 dogs in my letters. In one letter I cut out pictures of my 3 dogs and pasted them beside their names as I talked about them in the letter.

For those of you that have talked about not receiving very many or very personal letters I can relate to you. My sponsored child, writes just about 3 times a year. her letters are sometimes not very personal either. But as I’ve gotten into writing more often, the letters she sends seem to brighten up a bit. Though she looks angry in her picture, in the letters she is very very sweet. She wants me to come and visit her. I pray that those of you who only get letters rarely will be able to go on and that your kids will start writing more too. Thanks so much for all the great ideas!!!!!

Remember the television game show “Concentration”? There was a large board segmented by a grid of about 20 numbers. The contestants had to pick 2 numbers to try and make a match. If they were successful, those 2 numbers were swept away and a portion of a hidden rebus puzzle was revealed.

What great ideas. About three months ago I adopted a young lady – age 17. I like the Avon idea. Any other ideas for things to send to young ladies?

Hi Debbie,
I missed the Avon idea, what is that? I am always interested in new ideas. Thanks in advance!

I have loved perusing the aisles in Dollar Tree and Target for the $1 treasures of stickers and activity books and even multiplication/addition cards. Even some stickers for boys like transformers, spiderman, and cars….

I am curious what others do for their non-English speaking children. I have one in India that speaks Telugu and one in Bangladesh that speaks Bengali. There is no way I can translate the words on the pictures and there is no way that I can send them small books in their own language like I would if they spoke Spanish. Does anyone know of any resources for Christian products in these languages that children would enjoy? I have found an online Bible translation service for Telugu, where I can print of pages of the Bible and mail them to my 13 year-old Indian child, who is now reading Luke and has it in her own 2 hands! That resource is http://www.teluguchristianmedia.org if there is anyone else looking for material in that language.

Hi Jan, I also have a child in India who speaks a dialect I cannot find anything published in. For him (he’s still young) I find picture books where it is either no words at all (told entirely by pictures) or the pictures do a good enough job telling the story that even if it’s not in his language he shouldn’t need this (I test it by pcovering the words before I read the story and just looking at the pictures and then reading it to see if I managed to figure out the story correctly) . I figure he’ll be happy to read the books, and maybe when he gets older, if he decides to learn English, children’s books are great helpers in language learning. Asside from that I’ve found sticker books with reusable stickers that I can sent to him, and other little things like that.

Hi to all and Happy New Year!! Ny fiancee and I have just sponsored a little boy in Rwanda. We haven’t received any information yet about this child, but look forward to starting correspondence with him. I already have a stash of stickers and such to share with him.

I love all the gift ideas you have all posted…. took me a couple of days to get through them all… hahaha. I wonder if a wooden puzzle would be okay to send? You know the ones where you can push out the pre-punched pieces and build a car or horse for example?

Also, as I have read all of your posts, there is not much mention of sponsored children in Rwanda. Does anyone here have a sponsored child in this country?? What has been your experience?

@Jan

I have a couple of kids in India and they are teaching them English there. There letters are sent to me with no translation required. Also, one of my kids parents write for him because he has not learned to write in English yet. There is a good possiblity that your child is learning English. Hope this helps.

Since I like to sew, I am working on making bookmarks for a couple of the girls we sponsor. These are not cloth but very strong paper. Besides sending stickers, I also decorate my letters with stickers.

Diane Nichols, Wichita Ks

Sharon, I had sent balsa wood paper airplanes with the metal clip removed and they did not get through but it may have been they were damaged. I do not think wood will get through customs, i suggest you call compassion and ask them. They are more that happy to answer your specific questions. your ethusium and love for your newly sponsored child is evident in your writing here. May God bless your relationship.

Sharon – I am pretty sure anything wooden will not be allowed. Cardboard is fine to send though. Just make sure it fits in an envelope less then 1/4 of an inch thick, 1/8 to be safe as I’ve heard varying answers on the thickness that we can send. I don’t sponsor kids in Rwanda, but if you sign up on OurCompassion (like Facebook for sponsors), you can find tons of people sponsoring in that country and maybe even in the same exact project as your child. You will most likely receive your packet in the mail 1-2 weeks from the date of registration. If you haven’t already, you can sign up on the Compassion site for an account so you can email your child from the site. You won’t be able to get a response back through email though, as it has to go through translation first. Letters typically take a couple of months to get back and forth, but it is so worth sending them. The kids love the letters.

Anyway, congratulations on becoming a sponsor. I hope you enjoy writing to your little boy. If you do want to check out OurCompassion, you can follow the link from this blog or from Compassion’s home site. There’s a letter writing group on there with TONS of ideas on what to send. Everyone is really nice and friendly.

Sharon – We sponsor a child in Rwanda, but if you go to ourcompassion.com you will find many people who may sponsor in the same project as you. It is another fantastic site with lots of resources. Good luck and welcome aboard!

What awesome ideas! Here are mine…

I sponsor a young lady (17 years old). I have sent her:
~ Bobby Pins tipped with Flowers
~ Stationary bearing her initials
~ Folders (she is in school)
~ Matted photos
~ Calendar
~ Small, thin notebook
~ Book Marks (paper; I may laminate the next ones.)
~ Greeting cards instead of letters
~ Small stickers for her fingernails (tiny flowers)

Debbie, you said you send bobby pins – I thought metal of any kind can’t be sent? If the bobby pins aren’t metal where do you get them from?
Thanks for your ideas!

@ Diana and Sharon
Per an Advocates Training Class, as of October 2009 the regulation thickness is back down to 1/8th of an inch.

It just keeps us challenged to find new ideas of things to send to our kids ~ as stated above, there are plenty of great ideas here on this blog as well a the OurCompassion site. Blessings.

I love the personalized stationary idea from Debbie. Great idea!! I wasn’t aware that we could send bobby pins. Also love the nail stickers idea, though I won’t be able to use it since I sponsor boys.

Marci – Thank you so much for clearing up the issue of the regulation thickness.

Thanks for the nail sticker idea! Love it, love it! I ran out and bought some today.

Hi Sharon,
I have a little lady in Rwanda (in ADEPR Save), she is sweet and I enjoy her letters. She isn’t as open with me as others I write to. I am lucky, two of the children I sponsor write a couple times a month and send oodles of pictures. Becuase of our connection I feel like it is not really there with the others who don’t write as often. I still wrtite weekly to all of them hoping some day to feel closer to all of them.

Hi Kathy,
How old is your Child?? My little boy is 5… turning 6 in June. I look forward to writing him and hope that he is encouraged to write me back as well. I’m not sure what boys are like as far as letter writing. The nail stickers are a great idea, but need more ideas for boys if anyone has any suggestions.

Oh yeah…. in case anyone was wondering besides myself, wooden puzzles are not allowed

I have 3 girls, from age 6 to 13, that I have no problem finding goodies to send. Then there is the little boy I have started sponsoring recently in Bangladesh, who is 9, and it takes a different mindset! I still send him a few pages to color that are more “manly”-like, such as pictures of cars or superheroes. I have found stickers of the same thing , as well as soccer balls, which he loves. Also, I found a paint-with-water book the other day (which is 1/8″ thick) that was of cars and large machinery, at Dollar Tree. I have also seen books on paper airplanes or ones that are pre-printed. I found a calendar with soccer stars; it was too large to mail the entire calendar, so I tear out 3 months at a time, fold them and mail them with each letter. He also likes animals and pictures/stickers of them. And, maps are good, especially a map of the world, with a mark where you live and one where he lives. If you can find a map of his country, that is great, too.

Thanks for you ideas on boys, Jan C. I have 5 girls and two boys. As you say, the boys are the hard ones. I’ve found some great things at the Dollar Tree. Soccer cards are available at the dollar tree. YOu have almost everything else I send covered. They do love photos of my husband and I and our 3 dogs.

i called compassion today telling them that the thickness is being discussed here again….the man assured me that it is and has been 1/4 inch for the last year…don’t understand about the advocate training saying different..

Thanks for that info …. I wondered!!! The page that gives the information regarding what you can send still states 1/4 inch as the guideline. I’m glad as I just bought some Highlights books that I want to send……

I just received my first letter from the girl my family and I sponser in Uganda- very exciting!! She is around the same age as me which is really lovely.
I am glad that she was able to write in English so it doesn’t take more time to arrive due to translating.
She wrote about the harvesting and her primary school leaving exam. I loved the way that the letter page is set out with headings like ‘school’, ‘home’ , ‘drawings’ and ‘questions’ as well as the main letter secton.
I shall be writing her another letter very soon!!!!

@ Jeff and Sandy
I was the one on the Training call the other night with Compassion and this is the second time from Compassion that I’ve been told the thickness is 1/8th inch, and the paperwork that I received by email was documented with 1/8th inch. I am forwarding this discussion on to the Training Coordinator whose call I was on for some clarification. Maybe Compassion can add to this post for clarification as well. I’ll let you know my findings.
Blessings,
Marci

This is very informative! I’ve been sponsoring a girl in Bolivia for a year and a half and so far all i’ve sent is a postcard, stickers, pictures, and a bookmark. i didn’t think you could send bobbi pins or small notebooks or anything that wasn’t flat.
how can you measure 1/8 of an inch? they have stickers where i work that are bubbly and glittery and i wasn’t sure if i could send those. there are very few that are actually flat.
i’ll have to keep an eye out for more fun things i could send

Just wondering if anyone knows how much faster an email gets to a child as opposed to a letter? I know letters take “forever”, but what about email?

I asked about that one time. The person I talked to said that emails would get there a little faster~not much. They still have to be translated.

Sharon – You will only save the mailing time to Headquarters in Colorado Springs by emailing over “snail-mailing.” The email is printed there and goes through the same process as regular mail. Eventually, they plan to send these on to the country office (which will save a week or more), but that process isn’t in place yet.