Hugabugga

Earlier this week I was on the phone with Compassion International and asked about the letter writing programs status (I have been a volunteer letter writer for them for a few years now, and the program is always undergoing revisions, or at least it feels that way. Anyways— )

Currently with Compassion you can request more than one writing buddy, the sex of the child, and even (and this only happens every now and then) the region or country you’re looking for!

But this information is coming at you backwards==what am I talking about??

Okay— so, Compassion has a program where people sponsor the children, but if they don’t want to write to the child, they can have the child placed with a volunteer who will build a relationship with the child. The sponsorship fee is paid by the sponsor, but in the eyes of the child _you_ are their sponsor. Often the sponsorships are held by mega- churches, business’ or even individuals who sponsor so many kids they feel the need to share the love. This is great for the kids, because they get the encouragement they need, and great for people with big hearts but small budgets. You are, in essence, a foster parent, with all the rights and privileges that the financial sponsor enjoys, including being able to send small financial gifts, receiving letters, photographs and thank you notes, and even visiting the child.

You are, as a writing volunteer, expected to write 6 letters a year (one every 2 months at the minimum), there are no other requirements. However, the program has downsides. The biggest one being that if the financial sponsor drops the kid, you loose them if you do not decide to take on the financial sponsorship of that child. It’s absolutely gutting to go into your dashboard and see that child gone, of course it is. And sometimes the sponsor will request that they can take back control of the relationship. Compassions policy on this varies according to the weather- like I said, it’s constantly changing.

Who the child has as a sponsor very much affects how the sponsorship is handled. If it’s a big mega church, there is a lot of stability in that relationship, but the child will probably not get any financial gifts at birthday or holidays from them. You can, absolutely, take care of it yourself. I do, its easy, although every now and then you’ll get a phone worker who won’t know what to do with you LoL

If the child is sponsored through an individual they often do something for these occasions, but the sponsorship itself might not be as stable as one would hope for. Having said that, some sponsors are ah-mayyy-zing (!), and when the child graduates from the program, when they choose the next child, you automatically inherit the tending of the sponsorship. I have been looking after one woman’s children for years, she never misses a payment, and she chooses really interesting kids. One of the best, most successful sponsorships of my time doing this, Tabitha, was a gift to me through her. I will be forever grateful.

So, there are ups and downs, joys and perils. And intricacies which are too much to try and write about, but if you have a question, lay it on me, maybe I’ll have the answer. Currently with Compassion International I have 16 kids I write to, my “Compassion Buddies”. It sounds like a lot, and I suppose it is, but I’m used to it, I’ve got a system and Compassion has, by far, the best and easiest email interface of ALL the different child sponsorship services. It truly is user friendly. But I feel like I’m rambling (am I?) so—-

TLDR:

Compassion International’s letter writer volunteer program is currently in a rare state of choice! And their big sponsorship push, “Compassion Sunday” is happening very soon, so there’s going to be a bunch of kids out there who need someone super cool who’ll take the time to both believe in and write to them on the regular. It’s a good time to sign up for the program. Having said all that: don’t sign up if you don’t mean it. A child’s heart is on the line. Make sure you’re sure; when it comes to sponsorship, steady and steadfast wins the race.

Compassion International has a fantastic page about letter writing in general, and there is a section for information about volunteering as well.

Thanks for reading— this turned out complicated and not well organized. I feel bad, but if I start freaking out about being organized I’m never going to finish anything. It’s just not my jam.