A COMPASSIONate Christmas, Part 3

(To sponsor a child with Compassion, just click here. For more of my posts about Compassion click on the category on the right.)I wanna make sure you guys have a decent idea of what Compassion does.  For the purpose of this post I'm going to focus on the three main areas.  They do a bunch of other things, too, that I might talk about in another post, but this is the bulk of it.

First, there's the CDSP.  That stands for Child Development through Sponsorship Program.  This is the part of Compassion that I've been hounding you all about getting involved in.  Compassion partners with a local church that already has a ministry to children.  They help enhance that ministry and provide the church with resources and training that they wouldn't have had otherwise.  Once they have a church with which to work, they begin to recruit children for that particular project.  Typically, they don't take more than one or two children from any one family.  The reason is that by helping one child they really do end up helping the whole family (for example, if you give a kid a toothbrush, now the whole family has a toothbrush to use; once it's used up, the kid gets a new one).  So, by limiting the amount in a family they're able to affect more families and better affect a whole community.  They also try to make sure that the family is stable and will be active participants in the project.  Once a child is registered with a project they get their picture taken and become part of a packet that someone just like you can pick up.  Once you decide to sponsor that child, you are the only sponsor for them (unless you stop sponsoring them; then they go back into the system so they can find another sponsor).  You are the one directly affecting their lives and their future... for only $32.00 a month.  How great of a deal is that?  Plus, it's super simple.  Click here and you'll find out just how easy it is.

The second program Compassion has is the CSP.  This is the Child Survival Program.  The CDSP is for children around 3-4 years of age up until their aroudn 18-22, depending on each particular country and culture.  The CSP, however, is for children from pre-birth to 3-years-old and their mothers.  That's right.  I said "pre-birth."  Here's what I'm talking about.  Developing countries and poverty-stricken areas in particular (regardless of where they are) have high infant mortality rates.  Well, since the best medicine is prevention, Compassion begins working with mothers when they're pregnant and then continues to work with them once their child is born so they know how to take care of themselves and their children.  This program is primarily funded through the giving of major donors, but you can give to it, too, if you want.  Just visit Compassion's site to find out how.

The third, and currently final, program that Compassion has is the LDP.  This stands for the Leadership Development Program.  This isn't quite in every country in which Compassion works for various reasons.  One is that the Compassion program is so young in some countries that they don't have any who qualify.  You see, this program is for older students (not even sure they can be called children anymore).  These are people who have finished all of their primary education.  The ones who truly excel and desire to go to university can apply to be a part of the LDP.  If accepted, they once again are partnered with a sponsor.  This might be the same sponsor that has been with them through CDSP or it might be a new one, because it's more expensive to sponsor someone through LDP (like, $300.00 a month).  This pays for all of their schooling plus their living expenses.  They're partnered with a mentor in their country who works in their field of study.  They also periodically give back to local Compassion projects to work with the children who are in the same place they were at one time.  I've gotten to spend a decent amount of time with some LDP students and graduates (a good number of them end up working at projects or with their country's home office).  They're awesome.  I'll be talking more about some of them in a future post.  If you would want to sponsor an LDP students and can afford it, please do.  Seriously.  It can be tough enough to get people to shell out $32.00, much less $300.00.  You can click here to do it.

That's just a real rough overview of the stuff they've got going on, but I want to make sure you hear me about this one point.  It works.  It really does.  I'm not just saying that.  I've seen it first hand.  Compassion began by working with children in South Korea following the Korean war.  Now, they don't work in South Korea anymore.  They don't have to.  The church and government there can take care of their own poor and do it extremely well.  It's become one of the largest sending countries with regards to Christian missionaries.  The place they send most of thos missionaries to?  The U.S.A.  Anyway, when I've asked older Compassion students (like the ones in the LDP program) what their hope is for their country, I repeatedly hear something to the effect of, "We will one day be like South Korea."  You see, now instead of children there being sponsored, individuals in South Korea sponsor children in other countries.

It does work.  It changes lives, familes, communities and countries.

Don't you want to be a part of that?

Click here if you do.

If you alread are, thanks.

Merry Christmas.