My Project's Supporters Achieved: 0 Sponsor Now

by Derrick A. Lord

WELCOME! The purpose of this page is to educate about a solution that I know works. Children International has been around since 1936, and now assists over 300,000 children in 11 countries. They connect very poor children to caring sponsors. I am proud to be a sponsor and I’m asking you to learn more about sponsorship and hopefully become a sponsor to a child in need. I trust Children International to use my money wisely. In fact, eight out of every ten dollars raised goes programs and services that directly help children. $22 per month (approximately 73 cents a day) can make a huge difference. Be sure to watch the video on the right-hand side of the screen and read “The Benefits of Sponsorship” to learn more about this terrific organization. Giving a child the tools necessary to lift themselves out of poverty is a great gift and each one of us has the power to make it happen. From my own personal experience I can tell you that is one of the best feelings in the world.

What this project is all about.

I would like to introduce you to my sponsored child, Darleny Del Carmen Azcona Contreras. She lives with both parents and has three sisters. Her family does the best they can with very low wages as is typical for a laborer in the Dominican Republic, but they need help to give her and her sisters everything that any parent wants for their children. Thanks to CI she receives free health care and medicine when she gets sick, has access to a dentist and receives benefits like the clothing, shoes and supplies necessary to go to school. Because of sponsorship, children have a place to turn to and real hope for the future. The Children International staff and volunteers in my sponsored child’s community are committed to turning disadvantaged children into healthy, educated, self-reliant adults and my sponsorship helps make it happen. In any final analysis we will all be remembered less for what we have and more for the kindness we did for others. The question for all of us is are we brave enough to try and make a difference or will we continue to make excuses and find reasons not to leave this world in a better condition than we found it. I have come to believe that the worst of all regrets is when we know in our hearts we had the chance to help a person in need but failed to do it. Children International can give us that chance but it is up to us to take that first step. I'm so thankful to God that I finally woke up and took that step and I'm betting that you will be as well.

Sponsorship has been a blessing to me.

We talk a great deal in the United States about what we stand for but the question remains - how many of us are willing to back up big words with actual deed? Like most of us I talked the big talk without backing it up much until one day a few months after 9/11 when a quote from Dr. Martin Luther King got me thinking. Dr. King has said it better than I ever could: Life's most persistent and urgent question is, "What are you doing for others?" Proverbs 19:17 has this to say: "He who is kind to the poor lends to the Lord, and He will reward him for what he has done." I couldn't think of a bigger blessing in my life than Darleny Del Carmen. While it is true that I help her family I can't place a price on the feeling I get when I open those letters from a child that has a better life due the work of Children's International. My goal is to have her grow up in a world where she not only hears what Americans or Christians say they are all about, but a world where she actually experiences it. I would consider it a great honor if reading this story might lead you to consider pushing that “Lift One” button and begining the search for YOUR sponsored child. It has been one of the best decisions I have ever made and it costs me pennies a day. God bless you and thanks for the visit!