Child Sponsorship

works when the agency overseeing the sponsorship stays honest and accountable while actually using the majority of the money that it receives to aid children who are trapped in physical poverty.

Yet, in the USA at least, some people speak negatively about child sponsorship, as if it didn't do any good.

If you want to know the truth, then consider the following letter that a six-year-old girl named Ruth wrote to her sponsor in the USA:

“Dear _____________, I am very happy because in a far place called Oklahoma lives a person who loves me. I was sad because my father doesn’t think about my needs. [Ruth had been abandoned by her father.] When I receive your letters, my mother helps me to read them. I am happy for this. My mother smiles to see how I am happy. I accept your help. Thank you for your wish of being my sponsor. My mother and my sister greet you. God bless you. I send hugs and kisses to you. God bless you forever.”

At the age of 12, Ruth sent this particular letter to her sponsor:

“Hello my loved Dad. I hope your life is bright and that you have the best friendship with the best friend we can have, our good God. I am enjoying the project and learning from God’s Word. Please pray that God will bring prosperity to our project as I am not the only one here. There are many other teenagers and children who receive many benefits because of the great help you are giving us. I have to say bye. Remember that I love you and that you are my great support. Your daughter, Ruth.”


Yes, there have been plenty of bad apples involved with child sponsorship, but there are good apples as well.

I know so because I am the person who sponsored Ruth. I know directly from her and from other children how sponsorship works to rescue children from poverty.

Although I have never met her, Ruth is still in my life via Facebook, and she still insists that I am her real earthly father.

If you have any doubt about child sponsorship, then I will gladly tell you how to contact Ruth. She will gladly explain what sponsorship did for her.

Am I biased in favor of child sponsorship? Of course I am!

I have been sponsoring children through Compassion International since June of 1987. You have Christian recording-artist Amy Grant to thank for that. Her involvement with Compassion International is what led me to also becoming involved.

God might not direct everyone to sponsor a child, but don't let the nay-sayers discourage you from being a sponsor if you have the means to be one.

I am proud to be a Compassion sponsor. If I had not been one, then I would never have received the following photos from a girl living in Colombia:




Yes, those are photos of Ruth as she grew up.

Here is a photo of her taken in Year 2024:





For the record, Ruth is directly responsible for me meeting my late wife Maria Elena. Today, I sponsor a girl named Maria Elena who lives in the South American nation of Peru, which is where my late wife was born and raised.