Sponsoring a Child
China has approximately 600,000 orphan children. Most of these children are living in foster homes, usually with a relative. The government readily admits that the orphans do not receive adequate care and education. Many cannot go to school because the relatives are too poor to pay for the school tuition. We currently have six care centers open: North Canton Christian Care Center in Long Hui, Refuge of Grace Christian Care Center in Luxi, Neil Taylor Christian Care Center in Rongshui, Wesley's House Christian Care Center in Ping Guo, Jackson Family Christian Care Center in Zigong and John Connor Brown Christian Care Center in Tian Deng. We find orphan children in the countryside, living with a grandparent or relative, who are too poor to send the child to school and often not able to adequately feed or care for the child. We need sponsors for each of the children in the care centers to cover our expenses and overhead for supporting and caring for each child.
What is Orphan Sponsorship?
Sponsoring an orphan is a means of raising long-term support for the child until they complete high school and can take care of themselves. It is also a rich and rewarding experience for the sponsors. If possible, we ask that you commit to at least one full year of support when you sign up for this sponsorship program.
What is the cost of Sponsorship?
Our cost for each child is approximately $35-$45 per month. We offer both full and co-sponsorship programs. The full sponsorship program allows a sponsor to fully support a child for $35 per month. With the co-sponsorship program, we assign two sponsors to a child, and each co-sponsor pays $20 per month to support a single child in the care center.
Your donations can be made quarterly or yearly, if you prefer. Automatic bank drafts are also available where we deduct your agreed-upon amount out of your account on or about the 15th of each month. Your donations are tax deductible. Checks should be made payable to China Mission and noted as "Orphan Support".
What Happens When You Sponsor an Orphan?
When you sponsor an orphan, you will receive a photo and information sheet on the child assigned to you. It will give you details about the child you are supporting.
Each time the worker sends a report, you will receive an update to let you know how the child is doing at the care center and how they are progressing at school. Our workers will send a report every two months.
If you have e-mail and can receive your reports by e-mail, please let us know. It will save the cost of printing and mailing your report. We also send our newsletters by e-mail.
Your donation will purchase everything the child needs: food, shoes, boots, umbrella, clothing, bedding, school bags, school supplies, daily necessities (toothpaste, shampoo, etc.) and medical care. The worker will pay the school directly for the tuition. Many groups donate blankets and quilts for the children. They will be distributed to the children along with the gifts and commodities purchased with your donations.
Your monthly donation goes into the "orphan fund". Some months caretakers may spend more than $20 - $40 per child, such as when school tuition has to be paid for, or when extra clothing or medical care is needed. We pay the cost of living expenses and/or tuition for middle school and high school children that must live in the school dorms because the school is far away.
Some sponsors make additional donations for the child's birthday. Workers have a party at the end of each month to celebrate all the birthdays that month. Cakes are bought and a party is shared with all of the children. A "Gift Fund" has also been established so we can give each child a gift at the end of the year (Year-End Party/Chinese New Year). If you wish to contribute to this fund anytime during the year, you can earmark extra funds for this purpose by noting "Gift Fund."
We are grateful that FedEx provides us free shipping for blankets, quilts and medical supplies. However, we are unable to ship individual gifts to the children.
We encourage sponsors to establish a relationship with their orphan by writing letters and sending photographs. Write your letters in English and send them with your check, or e-mail them to patbrown10@gmail.com or ladotson1960@gmail.com. We forward letters by e-mail to our workers. Our Chinese workers will translate your letter into Chinese and give both copies to the child. Orphans are encouraged to write back to their sponsors. Our workers will translate their letter into English and send it to us by e-mail. The worker will forward the child's letter as it is written if he/she has learned enough English.
If you have any questions or need additional information, feel free to contact us by phone at (678) 877-6300.