Through Child Sponsorship You Can Change the World

"More than 24,000 children die everyday, most from preventable causes such as hunger, malaria, diarrhea, measles and pneumonia," according to humanitarian aid organization World Vision. It's a problem that can seem overwhelming and impossible to solve, but if you can afford one dollar a month, there is something you can do.

If you're willing to give up the occasional Starbucks coffee or movie rental, you can change one child's life forever by sponsoring a child through World Vision for $30 a month.

Most people have heard of child sponsorship programs, but not everyone may know exactly what it the money goes toward or what child sponsorship entails.

Most of us can't fathom surviving on $30 a month, and yet through World Vision, that $30 will provide your child with nutritious food, clean water, healthcare and an education. It also goes toward the child's family and community by providing job training and business training, and providing poverty-stricken farmers new ways to irritate and grow crops. According to World Vision, "In 2009, 89 percent of World Vision's total operating expenses were used for programs that benefit children, families and communities in need."

When you sponsor a child, you will have the chance to see your money at work. Periodically you will be sent photographs of your child so that you can watch them grow up strong and healthy. You can also correspond with your child through letters and by sending them small gifts. After you become a sponsor, you will be sent a packet in the mail which will include information on your child as well as a DVD that will instruct you on how to correspond with your child and what kinds of items you can and can not send.

World Vision will also provide you with updates, not just on your sponsored child, but on the community in which they live, so that you can see your money being put to use.

World Vision also offers you the chance to participate in the HopeChild sponsorship program, which, for $35 a month, allows individuals to sponsor a child specifically located in a community impacted by the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Benefits of this program include healthcare, care for sick or dying parents and HIV/AIDS prevention and counseling.

Beyond the $30-$35 you will occasionally be asked to donate a little extra, usually for the child's birthday or around the holidays. World Vision has birthday and holiday parties for all the sponsored children in a specific area and you're extra $5 will go toward the supplies, decorations and gifts for the children.

World Vision not only helps support needy children, but they are also willing to help out their sponsors.

If you find yourself facing your own financial difficulties, such as unemployment, World Vision will pay your sponsorship for three months. At the end of that time you can then decide if you can pick up sponsorship again or if you need to stop the sponsorship.

And this isn't a one time deal. If you are able to go back to sponsoring your child, but find yourself facing another financial crisis later on, World Vision will once again fund your sponsorship for three months. During these three months you can still correspond with your child and you will continue to receive updates.

World Vision is an Accredited Charity of the Better Business Bureau (BBB) which, according to the BBB Web site, means that it meets "all 20 Standards for charity accountability." These standards, "seek to encourage fair and honest solicitation practices, to promote ethical conduct by charitable organizations and to advance support of philanthropy."

As a child sponsor you will also receive World Vision's quarterly magazine, as well as a gift catalogue. Through the catalogue you will have the opportunity to make a one time donation to hundreds of different causes including health, education, women and girls, and the environment.

Some of these opportunities include buying a couple of chickens for a family for only $13 or a rabbit for $16, providing $525 worth of clothing by donating $35 or providing assistance to women and children victimized by human trafficking for $35. There is also an area that gives you an opportunity to provide assistance to children in the U.S.A.

If you're unable to sponsor a child, but want to do something, the gift catalogue is a wonderful way to help others in need with a one-time donation. You can view the catalogue online through World Vision's Web site.

Gandhi once said, "You must be the change you wish to see in the world." When you impact that one child's life for the better, you enable them the opportunity to change their own community and by changing that one community you can change an entire country and when you change a country, you can change the world.

Not bad for only $30 a month.

Sources:
Learn About Sponsoring a Child, http://www.worldvision.org/content.nsf/sponsor/learn-about-sponsorship, World Vision.

World Vision Online Donations: Gift Catalogue, http://donate.worldvision.org/OA_HTML/xxwv2ibeCCtpSctDspRte.jsp?go=gift&§ion=10389, World Vision.

World Vision HIV/AIDS Hope Initiative, http://www.worldvision.org/content.nsf/getinvolved/hope-home, World Vision.

Standards for Charity Accountability, http://www.bbb.org/us/Charity-Standards, The Better Business Bureau.