Testimonial from the VP of Simonds High School

by Erika Brow on Saturday, September 4, 2010 at 3:10pm (posted as a note on her facebook page)

Last year World Vision came to my home and made a desperate plea to sponsor a child. I had been thinking about doing this for awhile and since they were knocking on my door I said "sure." I selected a child in an Eastern European country who was the same age as my son because I wanted them to communicate with each other, to be global citizens. It has been a year and to date there has been no response. Thomas, after writing monthly and having no response has become disenchanted with the idea. We recently received our yearly “update”. It was a check list with boxes checked off and no message from the child saying "hey Thomas keep writing." I get mail occasionally saying please donate more for the child’s back to school expense, birthday, Christmas, etc… and I do because I want that child and his peers to have a little more than they have now. Then I always get mail back from World Vision saying thank you, your official receipt will come tax time next year. It feels like all the $$ I just donated has been spent on paper and postage.

Along comes Adam McKim and he has a new organization called CHAT to the Future where his World Issues class at Saint John High School raised some serious awareness and some funds to build a school/orphanage in Uganda, Africa where 130 orphans there need care. That is a lot of people for the students in 1 school to look after so Adam is working hard to have it recognized as a registered charity and has put it out there for schools and people to sponsor a child. All of the sponsorship donations and documents are open for you to see on Facebook.

After having a discussion with my husband, who works in Africa, we decided to sponsor a child through CHAT. On Tuesday Aug. 31 I made our 1st sponsorship payment for a child we chose from their profile picture. When I say we, I really mean Kiley and Jackie because this new addition to our family is a global sister for them. They chose Caroline who is 3 years old and likes to jump (sounds like both my girls).

Less than 1 week later we received current pictures and a little message in our inbox. All communication is done through email so it is quick and current! Caroline wrote us a little note in children’s script and a picture was taken of it. My girls were so excited to receive it! They are drawing a picture to scan and send to Caroline later this afternoon.

Having a global sibling is going to be an amazing experience for the children. If you have been thinking about or.. or you are now after reading this check the link out on my page or contact Adam adam0820mckim@gmail.com