WARNING: LONG LETTER AHEAD! :)
Dear Sponsors,
Over the last year we have been prayerfully and thoughtfully considering the possibility of making some changes in the way we operate our sponsorship program. We have analyzed the pros and cons and this week we finally came to the conclusion that we want to take a new step of faith. We believe that the outcome in the long-run will be worth it!
There are two main aspects of change involved in this decision. First, we have decided to fuse our feeding center program together with our child sponsorship program and make them one. Secondly we have decided to operate independently, without the subsidization of the government. I would like to explain a little bit of background to help you better understand. There are so many details I could expand on but I will just cover the basics so please bear with me.
We opened the feeding center 9 years ago with the help of a governmental child welfare service called ¨Instituto Colombiano Bienestar Familiar¨ (ICBF). They have a nation-wide program to assist with feeding centers among the poor. We were approved as one of their centers and they subsidized a portion of the cost of running the feeding center. As an approved center we are obligated to follow certain requirements regarding how we operate and we are accountable administratively and financially to ICBF. We have had a very positive experience working with ICBF all these years and being a part of their program has been a blessing for us and the community. It has also taught us a lot about how to operate a feeding center. As with any government institution there are frustrations, red-tape and delays but all-in-all we have appreciated and enjoyed our relationship with the good folks at ICBF!
The portion subsidized by ICBF is the cost of the food. There is a certain amount that is allotted per child per day. All of the rest of the funds needed come from charging the children a small fee to eat each day. At present they pay the equivalent of $.14 cents for a hot meal. With this fee we are able to pay the cooks a small stipend and cover other expenses such as utilities, cleaning supplies, kitchen utensils, dishes, etc... ICBF authorizes each feeding center for a certain number of ¨slots¨ and over the years, as we have gained their trust, they have increased our numbers. Currently we are subsidized to feed 150 children each day.
When we first started the feeding center so many years ago, the situation in Bocachica was quite different. We started the center because the children all around us were hungry and there was virtually no other response to this need in the community. Fortunately the situation has changed for the better. Now the public school in Bocachica has a much larger coverage in their feeding center (also with ICBF). The ICBF has given us 150 slots and the school has 350 slots so in total there are 500 children with access to a hot lunch. In addition, the local churches in Bocachica have begun to respond to this need as well. One church has been able to connect with Compassion International and through that program they are able to feed a certain group of kids once a week along with other activities. Two members in another Bocachica church have opened private foundations and they are also helping certain groups of children. The need for these feeding centers is still very relevant in the community but the urgency that existed when we began 9 years ago is not as critical and we are no longer the only ones trying to meet this need. This is a wonderful example of the growth and positive change we have seen in the community since we first arrived.
In short, we have decided to down-size our feeding center to include only the children that are in our child sponsorship program. Seeing the community’s response in helping to meet this need made it a little easier for us to take this step. It is also comforting for us to know that the 150 slots allotted to us by the ICBF will be turned over to the school, which means that the children that leave our center will still be able to receive hot meals at the school’s center.
In doing this we will leave the umbrella of the ICBF. The main drawback for us is that we will not have their financial support to help cover the expenses. The positive side though is that we will have complete freedom to operate our center without restrictions or guidelines from the government’s institution, and we can focus all our energy and effort on a specific group of children and their families.
In order to make this work we will have to adjust our budget and cut out some of the things that we used to do. The yearly fee for the sponsorship program is $160 dollars. We will now break-down the distribution of funds roughly in this way: $75 for school supplies and uniforms, $45 to run the feeding center, $35 for activities with the kids (fun and educational) and $5 to help with administrative and operational costs. The things we will have to eliminate are birthday and Christmas gifts each year. Also, instead of eating 5 days a week at the feeding center, the kids will eat 3 days per week.
Our ultimate goal is to be able to maximize our resources (our staff, time and finances) in order to attain the maximum result. We would like to have a deeper impact and influence on the lives of the children and parents in our sponsorship program but it has been difficult because our small staff has been spread too thin with the responsibilities of the 150 kids in our feeding center plus the 90+ kids in our sponsorship program. We want to impact their lives and help form them as people, not just give them material things and send them on their way. Now we will have only one group to work with and we can combine 2 or 3 of our staff members to work together as a team, rather than each one working alone in their different areas.
The giving of individual gifts will be optional for each sponsor. If they would like to send extra money for a gift we will be happy to facilitate that. Any other donations we receive for the feeding center/sponsorship program will be added to the general fund to be able to help cover our tight budget. Yes, this budget is tight and it will be a challenge! We will have to be very disciplined and diligent with our planning and spending but we think that we can make the necessary changes and have a more valuable outcome.
We have never increased our sponsorship fee before. As a matter of fact, we lowered it several years ago. When we first started it was $15 per month. The program grew to a point where we could no longer handle the administrative load of processing monthly payments so we changed to a yearly fee of $160, which averages out to $13.33 per month. We considered increasing our fee for 2009 to be able to cover everything but in the end we decided to cut our budget instead and we are anxious to see how it all works out during the next school year. This will be a trial time for us and we will certainly learn a lot in the process and have to make adjustments along the way.
We are excited about the changes because we believe that they will help enable us to focus more intently on our sponsorship kids and invest so much more in their lives. We are looking forward to developing deeper relationships with them and being more intentional and strategic in our program activities.
We want to thank you for your continued support of our sponsorship program and we hope that this information will help you better understand how we operate and some of the challenges that we will be facing next year.
In Christ,
Karen Silva
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Monday, November 17, 2008
Girls Waiting List for 2009
The following girls are on the waiting list for a sponsor for the 2009 school year. We have a separate group that are in a ¨trial period¨and we hope to add them to the waiting list in the near future.
HONDRIS
ROSA ADELIS
NEILY
HONDRIS
Boys Waiting List for 2009
The following boys are currently on our waiting list for the 2009 school year. A separate group is currently in a ¨trial period¨ and we hope to add them to the waiting list in the near future.
EFEMBER: SPONSORED!
ERICSON: SPONSORED!
MARLON: SPONSORED!
LISANDRO: SPONSORED!
YEISON: SPONSORED!
Sunday, November 16, 2008
2007 & 2008 Activities
We are excited to share with you some of the activities we were able to do with the Sponsor Kids and their parents throughout the 2007 and 2008 school years!
In February a visiting team helps sort through and organize almost 100 pairs of tennis shoes to hand out to the kids for their physical education uniforms.
Rosita, one of the moms signs for her son´s uniform.
Some of the kids at the mission writing thank-you letters to their sponsors.
In April we had a psychologist come to meet with the children´s parents and she did an interactive talk about the different types of abuse we find in families and communities.
Ken Weeks from northern Florida visits Maryuris and her parents for the first time.
Carole Murphy, from Florida, visits with Yeison and his grandparents, who have raised him.
Carole meets Larzon, his mom and grandma and gets to visit their house.
Sue Weeks, from North Carolina, visits Yuliza and also got to visit her family.
One of our visiting teams organized a special Birthday outing to the beach for all the kids.
First of all I would like to introduce you to Erika Tovar. She has been on staff with us for almost 6 years and has covered a wide variety of responsibilities during that time! This year, along with several other jobs, she assumed responsibility of our Child Sponsorship Program and she has done an excellent job! We are expecting the arrival of another staff member in May 2009 who will work alongside Erika and we are excited about being able to accomplish even more in 2009! Erika is our Dentist, is on our Leadership Council and is in charge of the mission in our absence. She is our ¨right-hand-lady¨ and we thank God for bringing her!
In February a visiting team helps sort through and organize almost 100 pairs of tennis shoes to hand out to the kids for their physical education uniforms.At the beginning of the school, year handing out the children´s school uniforms. We have their parents come and sign for their packages.
Rosita, one of the moms signs for her son´s uniform.
Some of the kids at the mission writing thank-you letters to their sponsors.In April we had a psychologist come to meet with the children´s parents and she did an interactive talk about the different types of abuse we find in families and communities.
In July we had a psychologist come out to meet with the older kids and give a talk about sexuality. It was a great time with them and although there was a lot of giggling and embarrassment, we know the kids enjoyed it.
In November a social worker from the government´s child welfare institution came out and taught the parents about sexual abuse, ways to detect it in their children and what to do if they discover this happening in their families.
Every November we hold an Annual Soccer Tournament for the community and this year we formed a team with our Child Sponsorship boys...the ones who had the best grades got to join the team.
In 2007 several of our Sponsors came to Bocachica to visit their kids:
Ken Weeks from northern Florida visits Maryuris and her parents for the first time.
Carole Murphy, from Florida, visits with Yeison and his grandparents, who have raised him.
Carole meets Larzon, his mom and grandma and gets to visit their house.
Sue Weeks, from North Carolina, visits Yuliza and also got to visit her family.
One of our visiting teams organized a special Birthday outing to the beach for all the kids. The kids receive their birthday gifts, a plastic container filled with personal toiletries such as shampoo, conditioner, body powder, deodorant, lotion, combs, soap and toothpaste. Believe it or not, this is one of the kid´s favorite things to receive!
Saturday, November 15, 2008
The Ripples of Child Sponsorship
The following article was copied from the COMPASSION INTERNATIONAL website:
The Ripples of Child Sponsorship
My husband just celebrated his birthday. He’s 41. Or maybe 39. Or did he just turn the big 4-0?
I’m not being coy. We really don’t know his age. Like millions of children around the world, my husband was born into a life of poverty. There are no records of his birth. He never knew his parents, although he understood from an early age that he was a G.I. baby. His size marked him a hapa, a Euro-Asian mixed-race child, a particularly negative thing in Asian countries where purity of race is a matter of pride and worth.
From his earliest memories, he was an orphan. He lived primarily on the streets, except for times he was taken in by “foster families,” where he was little more than an outcast mongrel and slave. He was often hungry, usually cold, sometimes abused, always alone.
Sounds pretty hopeless, doesn’t it? But something happened to change the story. A small thing, really. Someone noticed him. That someone was a Korean woman. Shunned by her Buddhist family because she had become a Christian, she noticed Corey one day outside her parent’s home. Recognizing him as a child of an American soldier, she alerted an orphanage in the area that was run by an American organization. He was taken to the orphanage — more correctly, two men lured him with a bag of candy and threw him into the back seat of a car, which might explain his lifelong abhorrence of sweets — where he was given clothes and food and eventually adopted by an American family. At the age of 8. Or maybe 7. It’s not really important, as long as he’s older than I am.
Today, my husband is an executive at a company that works with nonprofits. He teaches Bible study classes, studies Greek and has a wicked sense of humor. He is both one of the smartest people I’ve ever met as well as one of the most talented. Most important to me, he is the father of our three children and my lifelong companion and love. And, as you might imagine, he has quite the passion for orphans and the poor.
I sometimes wonder about that Korean woman. I doubt she knows the impact she’s had on me, my children and the hundreds of other people Corey has touched. If she hadn’t reported his existence to that American orphanage, Corey would most likely have died of disease or malnutrition before he was a teenager. Even if he had lived, there was no future for him in Korea. As a half-breed without paternal bloodlines, he was considered a gutter rat, without worth or identity.
But because she saw him, the story turned. Such a simple act, but it changed everything.
Sometimes, when we look at the ocean of poverty and need, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed.
“What can I do in the face of such hugeness?” we wonder. “What good would my pebble do in such a vast sea of suffering?”
But here’s the amazing thing about pebbles dropped in the water — they create ripples.All you have to do is notice. See one child. Just one. Then act. Sponsor that child. Throw your pebble into the ocean.
God will take care of the ripples. You never know how far they might reach.
Kelly @ Love Well is a writer, mother, wife and pebble thrower. She’s passionate about the ripples created by child sponsorship and delights to introduce people to Compassion. She also loves her coffee. Her life ambition is to laugh often, live purposefully and love well. When she has a few free seconds, she blogs at http://lovewell.blogspot.com/.
The Ripples of Child Sponsorship
My husband just celebrated his birthday. He’s 41. Or maybe 39. Or did he just turn the big 4-0?
I’m not being coy. We really don’t know his age. Like millions of children around the world, my husband was born into a life of poverty. There are no records of his birth. He never knew his parents, although he understood from an early age that he was a G.I. baby. His size marked him a hapa, a Euro-Asian mixed-race child, a particularly negative thing in Asian countries where purity of race is a matter of pride and worth.
From his earliest memories, he was an orphan. He lived primarily on the streets, except for times he was taken in by “foster families,” where he was little more than an outcast mongrel and slave. He was often hungry, usually cold, sometimes abused, always alone.
Sounds pretty hopeless, doesn’t it? But something happened to change the story. A small thing, really. Someone noticed him. That someone was a Korean woman. Shunned by her Buddhist family because she had become a Christian, she noticed Corey one day outside her parent’s home. Recognizing him as a child of an American soldier, she alerted an orphanage in the area that was run by an American organization. He was taken to the orphanage — more correctly, two men lured him with a bag of candy and threw him into the back seat of a car, which might explain his lifelong abhorrence of sweets — where he was given clothes and food and eventually adopted by an American family. At the age of 8. Or maybe 7. It’s not really important, as long as he’s older than I am.
Today, my husband is an executive at a company that works with nonprofits. He teaches Bible study classes, studies Greek and has a wicked sense of humor. He is both one of the smartest people I’ve ever met as well as one of the most talented. Most important to me, he is the father of our three children and my lifelong companion and love. And, as you might imagine, he has quite the passion for orphans and the poor.
I sometimes wonder about that Korean woman. I doubt she knows the impact she’s had on me, my children and the hundreds of other people Corey has touched. If she hadn’t reported his existence to that American orphanage, Corey would most likely have died of disease or malnutrition before he was a teenager. Even if he had lived, there was no future for him in Korea. As a half-breed without paternal bloodlines, he was considered a gutter rat, without worth or identity.
But because she saw him, the story turned. Such a simple act, but it changed everything.
Sometimes, when we look at the ocean of poverty and need, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed.
“What can I do in the face of such hugeness?” we wonder. “What good would my pebble do in such a vast sea of suffering?”
But here’s the amazing thing about pebbles dropped in the water — they create ripples.All you have to do is notice. See one child. Just one. Then act. Sponsor that child. Throw your pebble into the ocean.
God will take care of the ripples. You never know how far they might reach.
Kelly @ Love Well is a writer, mother, wife and pebble thrower. She’s passionate about the ripples created by child sponsorship and delights to introduce people to Compassion. She also loves her coffee. Her life ambition is to laugh often, live purposefully and love well. When she has a few free seconds, she blogs at http://lovewell.blogspot.com/.
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