Supporting a Child Across the World Through Compassion International

I was about 25 years old. I had started going to a mega-church in Washington, D.C. because my parents had raised me to and, to be honest, meeting good men in the city was tough. (I had to grow into my spirituality it seems.)

After one of the services, in the lobby, there was a table full of pictures of little children. Drawn in, I picked up a card and saw that if I pledged a certain monthly amount, I could help a girl (THAT girl) receive basic needs and education.

I would like to tell you I hesitated before throwing my money around. At that time, it was just under $30 a month and I was a single girl, in her first job out of college, living in an expensive city. To make ends meet, I was a barista at Starbucks at 5:00 am before going into the office to work at a law firm until 7:00 pm.  But I didn’t think about this at all, really, and “adopted” a little girl in the Dominican Republic (which was coincidental given that over a decade later I would find myself on a mission trip there). She had big, brown eyes and the most amazing pigtails I had ever seen. I signed the form and took my mid-20s self back out into the city to watch football with friends.

Every month, I would receive a letter from my little girl. And frequently I received photos of her as she grew. She thanked me, shared information about herself, and asked me questions.

I wasn’t a very good penpal, unfortunately. I found the right man for me (it wasn’t through a church). I followed him to the South, married him, and we had two kids.

It wasn’t until my husband and I merged finances that I thought to consider how legit Compassion International is. I trust my gut when it comes to decisions pretty much 95% of the time. (The other 5% I make decisions based on my husband’s painstaking research.) Thus far, things have worked for me.

But I owed him a better explanation for spending the now-$38-per-month of our money.

Here is what I learned about Compassion International when I (finally) went digging…

• Compassion International was started in 1952 by one man (Reverend Everett Swanson) who was moved and appalled by the South Korean orphaned children he saw freezing to death in the streets. So he began a revolutionary program to allow people to send a few dollars a month to help children.
• Today, Compassion helps children in 25 developing countries.
• They are incredibly transparent about their finances. Auditors reports are online and public.
• They work with local churches and people in the countries they serve to get resources distributed (which appeals to me since, in my entirely uninformed opinion, the most sustainable form of human aid is when we enable humans to take care of their own neighbors).
• You can nearly always get a representative to help, and I have yet to experience someone who is in any way negative or unkind.

Is Compassion Christian-based? Absolutely. But they practice the style of Christianity I do: compassionate Christianity. The teachings of Jesus are how we teach kids that they are loved, worthy and deserving of self-love; they are part of a bigger plan and they matter. The Jesus these kids are taught through Compassion is the Jesus I know; the one who doesn’t judge but loves hard. (I know this not only through their online statements but through the letters both of my sponsored children have now shared with me.) Plus, children are not required to be followers of Christ to receive assistance.

When I finally did the research on this company I was already giving monthly financial contributions to, I was even more convinced it was the right thing for me to do. (Whew!)

So many Compassion sponsors work to create a relationship with their sponsored children. They write back frequently, send photos, and Compassion even provides a means to go and visit your child. Many do it.

On a scale of 1 to 10 as a sponsor to my little girl during my mid-20s, I rated around a 4. I wrote, I always paid, and I saved all of her notes. But on the human connection level, I wasn’t knocking it out of the park.

So when my little girl aged out of the program and Compassion called to tell me that she no longer required my support, I immediately sponsored another child, this time around I was in my late-30s. I am happy to report that today, I am doing a better job of keeping in touch. She is so tiny, smaller than my youngest son, and now, with the heart of a mom, I really get it.

Watching my innocent babies grow, watching their needs and being so invested in their development (from crying when breastfeeding wouldn’t work to racing them to doctors when fevers got dangerously high to gripping my husband as our youngest was admitted to the ER twice for breathing problems) looking at this little girl squeezes my insides hard. I want her to have what my children had. I want her mother to know that her child is beautiful and loved and worthy of all the food and education that my children are.

As a mother, I have also grown to appreciate the education Compassion puts in my hands to help my children understand the big world beyond. They have a kids magazine (free!) that is delivered to my house. Are they promoting raising money for Compassion? Absolutely. But they are also trying to teach my kids about how many people outside their own comfortable neighborhood live (and not trying to sell them LEGOs, Hatchimals or light-up fidget spinners they don’t need, which is a nice break).

This company truly practices what they preach, and try to reach the world with their mission. They travel the country offering the Compassion Experience, where children and families can walk through and experience first-hand what living in poverty is. They have campaigns against world trafficking. They have opportunities to raise money for certain countries and clean water. There are also options to give one-time donations to purchase livestock, assist malaria intervention work, to help children with AIDS, and more.

If you want to help, if you want to try to impact a life across the world, Compassion International will do what it can to assist you. I usually personally prefer to be the boots on the ground versus the wallet, but all gifts are needed when it comes to showing the world love.

I feel powerless to help the terrible situation children are going through at our nation’s borders. I feel helpless when it comes to feeding all the children in my own community who have such a need.

But this feels like one way I can easily and, with such little impact on my own life ($38 is equal to 6 Chipotle burritos, 8 Oprah Cinnamon Chai Tea Lattes or 3 bottles of average-priced wine), help someone.

And now, I am off to write a note to my sponsored child. Trying to get up to a 7 rating this go-round.

Learn more about Compassion International (and how you can help if you feel inclined) at www.compassion.com.

PST, this article is in no way paid, anticipated, suggested, or requested. This is something we are sharing based on our experiences and our lives.