Please consider sponsoring a child through Compassion International

[Crow]

I have a question. We recently (as in this week!) decided to sponsor a child. Am I suppose to get an email from them? Or do I just wait until they send me something in the mail? I haven't heard anything from them, but I know they withdrew money from our account.

I just wondered what the procedures were....

I got an email from them, but sometimes the spam filter I have is a bit aggressive and catches their emails.

I think it took about 2-3 weeks for me to get my first snail mail from them. I get Compassion magazine every few weeks--it keeps you up to date what is going on in Compassion in general. Every few months I get a letter--my child is still young and she needs help with writing, so they don't come that often yet.

One thing I like about Compassion is that they don't deluge you with pathetic advertising showing dirty kids starving in rags to try to shame you into giving more. They let you chose what you want to do, and let you know what is available for you to do on their website, but there's no pitch for you to do more. For example, my sponsored child's birthday was this January. They don't send you a letter hinting that you're kinda a jerk if you don't send a present. You can go to their site if you chose to, designate a gift amount, and even give them instructions on what you want bought for her. And you can also choose to send the family a gift for any reason if you want, and there's no pressure to do so if you don't want to or can't afford to. The only correspondence I've gotten along those lines is in October they let you know that if you would like to send a Christmas gift you can. I suspect that is so they can get their shopping for the kids all done in time.

Every picture I get of the girl I sponsor shows her happy, in decent clothes, and healthy. She doesn't write about how terrible things are around her, she writes about her pets and the things she likes in school (some things are pointedly not mentioned, like math, which I suspect she finds as odious as I do) and what her mother and brothers and father have been doing. I get the impression that this organization spends more time helping the kids than fundraising. I like it. I think that you will like it too.

[draw2much]

Alright, thanks for the reply. :) It helps to know what to expect. If I don't hear from them I'll just pop'em an email and see what's up. (It's possible my husband misspelled the email address...)

I'm glad they don't try to guilt-trip.... I hate those type of tactics. I wanna do something because I'm moved in my heart, not cause someone makes me feel bad, ya know? :P

I'm looking forward to sponsoring.

[semmie]

Alright, thanks for the reply. :) It helps to know what to expect. If I don't hear from them I'll just pop'em an email and see what's up. (It's possible my husband misspelled the email address...)

I'm glad they don't try to guilt-trip.... I hate those type of tactics. I wanna do something because I'm moved in my heart, not cause someone makes me feel bad, ya know? :P

I'm looking forward to sponsoring.

sooOOOoooo.....can you update us? tell us about your child?

[draw2much]

Oh sorry! Everything went through alright. We got a package a few weeks after we sponsored (it takes longer to get to an APO address). Our Sponsored Child is a little girl named Gabriela from Brazil. She's 8yrs old this year. She's really adorable and I'm so glad she's our "Child". :)

I finally got to sending a letter to her. I ended up doing it via email. I always was horrible at writing snail mail! (Hopefully I didn't write anything inappropriate!)

[semmie]

Oh sorry! Everything went through alright. We got a package a few weeks after we sponsored (it takes longer to get to an APO address). Our Sponsored Child is a little girl named Gabriela from Brazil. She's 8yrs old this year. She's really adorable and I'm so glad she's our "Child". :)

I finally got to sending a letter to her. I ended up doing it via email. I always was horrible at writing snail mail! (Hopefully I didn't write anything inappropriate!)

i'm so glad to hear it.

i, too, love having a "child!" my little boy is about the most precious thing i have ever set my eyes on.

i wouldn't worry too much about writing anything inappropriate. just keep your correspondence simple and focused on the things you have in common; avoid talking about material possessions that your little girl may not have. i find that it's easy to talk about hobbies and relationships and god--these are the things my boy and i seem to have most in common.

i had read somewhere that sponsored children usually "cherish" the letters and photos you send them; and will hide them away somewhere. i found this to be really endearing, and kind of ironic... i have only received one letter from him, and i cherish it. i read it practically every day, and it makes me smile when he talks about his chicken. i just..i adore him. i keep his picture and his letter in my bible.