That’s the question that launched an interactive new webpage called the Child Sponsorship Board. Unveiled last month on Compassion.com, this live feed begins with a blank page each day that updates in real-time with the pictures of children who have just been sponsored online.
It’s really quite addicting.
Beginning at 12:00AM (mountain time) every day, the Child Sponsorship Board comes to life with a picture of a sponsored child, a timestamp for when they were sponsored, and the first name and location of the sponsor. As children are sponsored, the page builds into a visual story of unfolding hope. Since the board has launched, we’ve seen:
- An average of 148 children sponsored online per day.
- Four hundred and seventy one children sponsored in a single day, during a special radio promotion.
- In the final week of July (from Monday through Saturday night), 1,106 children sponsored online.
Follow this live feed very long and you realize one thing: this is about seeing hope, not feeling despair.
In a world where over 600 million children live in poverty, it can be easy to be paralyzed and overwhelmed by feeling helpless. By feeling like our actions cannot make a real impact on poverty.
The reality is that there is no quick Band-Aid or overnight solution in the daunting fight against the darkness of poverty. No easy out of the injustice, abuse, disease, despair and brokenness that are found in the world’s poorest regions.
No, poverty will not be easily crushed overnight.
But hope can be planted right now.
And hope is poverty’s greatest enemy. Hope is a patient and persistent seed that produces a wonderful harvest. It is a bright light shined into the darkest corners and caves. Hope is a path – a way out, a belief that something else can not only be experienced someday, but is within reach today.
Overcoming poverty is a bit like finding our stride and maintaining our pace as we push toward the finish line of a marathon.
In a world where over 700,000 children die everyday from diarrhea directly related to unsafe water and improper sanitation…
In a world where 2,000,000 children are currently entrenched in the sex trade industry…
In a world where 120,000 children become infected with HIV every single day…
The Child Sponsorship Board is visual proof that we are making progress through the hope, compassion, and future found in the heart of Christ.
Together, we are gaining ground against the darkness of poverty. Each day, the Gospel goes out among the poor, the hungry, the innocent, the disadvantaged, and the thirsty when a child discovers a sponsor has chosen them. Each little, precious face on the feed is one less God-created heart that hell and poverty get to claim today.
Together, we are planting persistent seeds of hope that will harvest a new and better world through the hearts of children.
If you haven’t yet, we’d love it if you would join us by sponsoring a child today.
If you are a child sponsor, visit the Child Sponsorship Board today and share our story with your social networks. Your endorsement might just mean that a child’s life will be forever changed.