When First Son was born, we were aware of how blessed we were, living in a fabulous neighborhood in Brooklyn with a beautiful healthy little boy. We wanted to take the opporutunity to share some of our blessings with a child in poverty. It was nearly two years before I made the time to research our options.
We began to sponsor a child through Christian Foundation for Children and Aging, a lay Catholic organization that creates relationships between sponsors in the United States and children and aging persons in 24 developing countries. Our contributions provide life-changing benefits such as education, nutrition, clothing and medical care for our sponsored friend. Through letter writing we are able to learn about our sponsored friend's life and offer our encouragement and prayers.
Grounded in the Gospel call to serve the poor, CFCA works with people of all faith traditions. CFCA receives the highest ratings from Charity Navigator and the American Institute of Philanthropy.
CFCA very kindly matched us with a boy in Africa close to First Son's age. We have received pictures from our friend that we've shared with the children, keeping the most recent one on our fridge. We often pray for him together. I plan to incorporate letter-writing to him and his family as part of our handwriting exercises next year (once First Son is a little more comfortable). CFCA encourages writing letters about that which we have in common, which I appreciate, because I'm anxious for First Son to think of him as a friend, learning to see only the similarities despite the vast differences in wealth and culture.
I wish we could afford to sponsor a child for each of our little ones and a priest for Kansas Dad, but perhaps one of you will reach out after reading this post or seeing the button I've put in the sidebar. Learn more about how you can help here.
