Stories to Connect You With Compassion & Grow Your Faith

Child sponsorship is about participation. Sponsoring a child is an exciting, humbling, invested experience that really is changing the world — one life at a time. #SponsorChange

The thirteenth year of a girl’s life should be a sweet time. She is in between childhood and adulthood. Dreams, hope and excitement make it an amazing period of life. This is certainly not the time to get married and have babies.

However, for many Bangladeshi village girls illiterate parents force them to marry at this age. After marriage, they are exposed to a physical relationship for which they are not prepared. This creates disorder in their lives.

Within a year of marriage, most girls give birth. An extreme load of household work at their in-laws’ houses and their physical deficiencies make them weaker every day, and they are often badly beaten by their illiterate husbands. Eventually, they are thrown out of their in-laws’ houses, often returning to their parents’ houses to become burdens to their families.

This scenario is the reality for thousands of young girls living in remote areas of Bangladesh. At the Verchi Child Sponsorship Program (BD-308) child marriage is a threat. (more…)

Today is Human Trafficking Awareness Day. By learning the facts about this terrible crime against humanity, you can be the change for exploited children around the world.

Feeling low on creativity about what larger mail pieces to send? Here are some really cute ideas for things you can send your sponsored child.

As much as I dislike winter, I love snowflakes. You see, no two snowflakes are alike. Just as God created each one of us as unique individuals, he also created each one of our sponsored children to be unique individuals.

Questions about letter writing are the most common ones I hear in the contact center. Many sponsors call or write us because they are frustrated with the quality of the letters they receive from their sponsored children.

A few days ago, I spoke with Judy because she was upset that her sponsored child, Carlos, doesn’t answer the questions she asks in her letters. She was also frustrated because she had just received a letter wishing her a “Merry Christmas” … in June!

As you reflect back upon the blessings and trials of the past year and pray about what the Lord has in store for you in 2014, we want to thank you so much for your commitment to children in poverty.

Jhon graduated from the Child Sponsorship Program in 2007. He set the goal to study because, in spite of not getting into the Leadership Development Program and not having financial resources, he knew God would find a way to fulfill his dream.

Francisco Perez remains thankful and practices everything he learned in our Child Sponsorship Program, even decades after graduating.

Smiles transcend time and place. We would know, we get to see a lot of them.

On this day we hope you feel the presence of our Savior as we celebrate His grand love and His perfect will to move us closer to Himself.

“Behold, the virgin shall be with child and shall bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which translated means, “God with us.”

– Matthew 1:23, NASB

The artwork was drawn in 2003 by Elaine Vidal, a 10-year old sponsored child.

Christmas is the season to visit relatives far and close. As for Christians, many tie marriage knots around Christmas. Other church events, such as public declarations of Christian faith, also called confirmations or first communions, take place around Christmas.