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Background.
The ELCA sometimes receives inquiries from concerned members who
want to support programs that help individual children in other
countries. Child-sponsorship programs are one way to respond to
needs we see around us. For some people, they are a first step
in helping poor and hungry people. However, the ELCA's worldwide
contact with partner churches, relief and development agencies,
missionaries and, most importantly, local people themselves
teaches that there may be more effective ways to help.
Disadvantages of child sponsorship.
The ELCA has a long-standing commitment to reaching out to
neighbors all over the world through their communities. This
approach is based on partnerships, cost effectiveness, and
accountability. This approach does not include promoting child
sponsorship for a number of reasons:
- Sponsorships tend to create
divisions within families and entire villages. When one child
receives special attention such as letters, gifts, clothing,
education and medical attention, other members of the family
and community may become envious. Parents may feel humiliated
when reminded that they are unable to provide for their child.
- Sponsorships encourage dependence.
Sponsored children may begin to feel that their well-being
depends on the gifts of donors. When support ends as the child
reaches adulthood, he or she may fall back into poverty, often
having gained little knowledge of self-sufficiency from the
experience.
- Sponsorship programs tend to
perpetuate stereotypes about people in other countries.
Advertisements designed to stir our compassion and motivate
our giving may depict children as helpless victims whose
parents are unable to cope. These ads focus on one child or
one family, rather than on the causes of their poverty and the
strength of their communities in making changes.
- Sponsorship programs are expensive
to administer. The television and magazine advertising most
child sponsorship programs use to enlist support, as well as
the letters, translations, photographs and reports provided to
sponsors, are expensive. They are designed to satisfy the
donor's need to obtain feedback from the recipient of the aid.
The money spent on behalf of donors could be used to benefit
the children.
The ELCA supports community-based
relief and development projects in which whole communities lead,
participate and benefit. These projects, largely supported
through gifts to the ELCA World Hunger Appeal, are carried out
by Lutheran World Relief, Lutheran World Federation, the ELCA
Division for Global Mission, ELCA missionaries, Church World
Service, and ELCA partner churches around the world.
For example, Lutheran World Relief has
52 years of experience working with local communities in Africa,
Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East. These partnerships
foster local commitment for the development activities (new
wells, health care, improved farming) that continue long after
LWR's direct involvement and support ends. Effective aid means
that local people - not distant donors - define their own needs
and priorities. Their problems usually involve long-term
solutions, not quick fixes. LWR always works with whole
communities rather than giving direct support to individual
persons. This way of working promotes dignity, self-reliance and
sustainable development. It is an investment in the people who
do the work. It is also a cost-effective way to work.
Designated giving option.
Knowing that congregations, Sunday schools, and individuals may
want to make special gifts at special times, the ELCA provides
the following designated giving opportunity to support children:
Hope for the Children Fund helps the
ELCA World Hunger Program reach out to children in need
throughout the world. And 100 percent of your gifts to this
second-mile program go directly to programs that help children
in crisis or that help their communities escape the poverty that
causes childhood hunger. Below are examples of the kinds of help
your gift will provide, from Nicaragua to Namibia to Nepal.
Challenge your group to work toward specific goals:
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$1 |
Food and care for a hungry child for
one day |
|
$2 |
An in-village visit by a health
worker for young children and pregnant women |
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$8-10 |
Several weeks of supplemental
feedings for a malnourished baby in a refugee camp or basic
medicine for a child |
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$30-50 |
A month of care for an orphan or
abandoned street child |
|
$100-500 |
School fees, uniforms, and supplies
so a child can attend school for a year |
|
$1,000 |
A month of community-development work
to help parents in drought-prone areas avoid famine and grow
enough food to feed their children |
Please make your check payable to
"ELCA World Hunger Appeal" and designate clearly the project
name (Hope for the Children Fund)
on your check, which can be mailed to the address below. You may
also contribute to this project over the phone or online. |
