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A child needs you!
BY CHERYL KARNES –
“Jesus said, ‘Suffer the little children to come unto Me.’ Throughout the long history of The Salvation Army, we have fulfilled this admonition with a heart of compassion. It is a privilege to take on the responsibility as Director of OCSP. Please join with me to provide for needy and deserving children around the world.”
–Major Sharron Hudson, Director, Overseas Children’s Sponsorship Program
The Salvation Army’s Overseas Children’s Sponsorship Program (OCSP) ensures the food, shelter and healthcare to sustain a child’s body, provide the educational opportunity to achieve a productive future and offer religious instruction to feed the soul.
In nine short years the Western Territory has built a network in the program that coordinates individual sponsorship of 300 children and manages the dispersal of discretionary donations to Salvation Army children’s homes, schools, and childcare centers located in over 30 countries across the globe.
Yet, right now, we have an additional 253 children without sponsors. How is this possible? We have dedicated soldiers active in every segment of our communities.
We have energetic volunteers who extend our reach into every social, religious, ethnic, and professional segment of the diverse society comprising the Western Territory. Surely from among these resources we can recruit 253 sponsors to answer this call and extend a helping hand to a child in need.
Immediate need
The need is urgent. Each passing day narrows the window of opportunity to make a critical difference in the lives of these children. Think of your own family, remember your own youth, and consider how often the knowledge that you were loved and cared for made a crucial difference in your life’s path.
Nourish the Spirit
Spiritual sustenance is an integral part of sponsorship. At Hanbury Home for Children in Jamaica, church missions from around the world make annual visits, participating in vacation Bible school for all the children.
At Taejon Children’s Home #2 in Korea, winter Bible school is a featured part of the curriculum. The success of the Overseas Children’s Sponsor-ship Program is measured by the development of Christian values right along with the healthy minds and bodies of the children in our care.
As a sponsor, your child will share with you the joys and fears of everyday life and will look to you to provide spiritual encouragement as you communicate through letters and cards. Perhaps most importantly, your gift will provide a child with the knowledge of God’s love expressed through the helping hand of a sponsor.
Strengthen family values
Your assistance will not only provide the practical necessities for Nino to continue her education but also help her struggling mother to keep her remaining family intact. Many of our 253 children are not in children’s homes. They live with a single parent, or an extended family member and attend Salvation Army schools. Your sponsorship supports basic tenets of Christian love: the respect for family and the care of children.
Touch the future
Kunsan Children’s Home in Korea provides care for 16 pre-schoolers, 25 primary school pupils, 26 middle school students and 17 high school pupils. Doctor Cho, Joo-yun, himself a product of the Kunsan Children’s Home, founded the Salvation Army’s “Oori Jip” program in Korea. “Oori Jip” means “our home” in the Korean language. These homes provide a haven for young people, over the age of 19 years, who have been resident at Army Homes and now attend university or are newly employed.
Can you see how the hand you extend now reaches into the future? Children attending Salvation Army schools and churches and living in children’s homes will soon be university students, teachers, nurses, businessmen and women and mothers and fathers. And some of them, like Dr. Cho, Joo-yun, will return to enrich the spiritual life of others and continue the service that made such an influential contribution to his own development.
Who can sponsor?
Anyone can take part in the program. Individuals or groups inside or outside the Salvation Army are encouraged to assume sponsorships. Each child is assigned to one individual, family or group at a time. There are two types of sponsorship:
Individual: A pledge of $20.00 a month will meet the needs of a specific child. This may be sent once a month, but postal expense and administrative costs can be reduced if you send your support quarterly, semi-annually or annually.
Discretionary sponsorship: Pledges are directed to a particular children’s home, rather than to an individual child. This gives the director the opportunity to use the monies for children who need it most.
However you choose to participate, remember that 100% of the support money received from you will be sent to your child. Absolutely none of your sponsorship money is kept for “operation fees.” Additionally, your contribution is tax deductible. A receipt is issued at the end of each calendar year.
Your sponsorship can become the first ripple in still waters. It will repeat and expand, spreading further than you can imagine. It will reach into 30 countries on four continents. You will truly change the future.
There are 253 children waiting to hear from you.