Vision of Sponsorship

I wanted to take some time to talk about our sponsorship program.  We started this program in March 2012 even before All Things New existed as a way for our children to be taken care of.  Our initial sponsorship program consisted primarily of members of RiverTown Church, and it did not take us long to find sponsors for each of our, at the time, 27 children.  Most of those sponsors are still a part of All Things New to this day!  You can find out more information about our sponsorship program by clicking here, but I also wanted to take some time to communicate the vision of the All Things New sponsorship program.

The first thing that is important to know is that our sponsorship program has been the most successful aspect of our ministry.  It began as way for our children to have food on a consistent basis.  When we first began working with the children they were eating only about 1 meal a day, and we knew that we had to change that.  However, after the initial sponsorship was such a huge success, we decided to expand it.  At this time, we have 34 children and 160 sponsors!  Our sponsorship program now not only provides food for our children, but it is how we run our ministry on a day-to-day basis.  Here are some of the things that sponsorship covers right now:

• 3 healthy meals everyday for our children (including meat and vegetables).
• School (including tuition, books, uniforms, etc.)
• Medical Issues
• Salaries for at total of 17 employees (Haitian and American).
• Snacks and fruit for our children when they return home from school each day.
• Gas for the vehicles that we use each day.
• Upkeep on our trucks and the current orphanage facilities.

These are the big things that our sponsorship program covers solely with the $40/month that our sponsors consistently send down.  However, there are many other benefits to our sponsorship program.  Many of our sponsors come down on trips and meet their children, they send cards and photos to get to know the children better, we have setup private Facebook groups to update with photos and so the sponsors get to know each other, and there are opportunities to send gifts/clothes/backpacks/shoes/etc. to their sponsored child.

I also want to be clear that these extra things that are part of our sponsorship are not necessary!  Please understand that, as a sponsor, we only ask that you send $40/month to help take care of your child.  The extra things that go along with sponsorship are there solely to help you connect to your child to the level that you want.  If it is financially difficult to do more than the $40/month, please understand that you are helping more than you could possibly know and we do not expect you to go above and beyond that.  These are just ways to be more involved in the child’s life if that is something that you would like, not a necessity of sponsorship.

Finally, and maybe the most important aspect of sponsorship, is that this program allows our children to know that they have a family somewhere that loves them and prays for them.  You would be really surprised to find out that the children know their sponsors by name.  They ask about them all the time, and when they have a sponsor come and visit them, they are excited for weeks (sometimes months) leading up to the trip.  You cannot understand what it means to them that there are people who love them, and we (All Things New) cannot express what it means to us that you take the time to get to know the children and pray for them consistently and specifically by name.

I also want to make it clear that there are many other ways to get involved with our ministry.  Many of you give to us monthly or when you are able, many of you pray for us (and this is something that we need more than anything else), and many of you volunteer your time for events and to help further the ministry (we will soon have a page of ways to get involved with All Things New).  Your contributions are equally important to our ministry, today I just wanted to take the time to say thank you to our sponsors.  This program holds a special place in our hearts, and All Things New would not be where we are without your support.  Thank you.

Finally, we are constantly increasing our sponsorship program.  Like I mentioned before, our sponsorship program will instrumental in the day-to-day running of All Things New.  Because of this, the more we expand our ministry and the better we do at taking care of our children, the more sponsors we will need.  We recently hired 5 new employees at All Things New for a total of 15 Haitian employees.  With this extra expense comes the need for new sponsors.

So Please Continue to Recruit New Sponsors!

Our goal for 2015 is to end the year with 200 total sponsors!  This is a reachable goal but we need your help.  Talk to your friends about sponsoring, share on social media about the orphanage, and schedule times for Matt and Jessica to speak at your church or dessert fellowships with your friends.  We are so thankful for each of you and we look forward to continuing to partner with you in the future.  Please know that you can always ask questions or find out more about your child by using our contact us page, and you can also become a sponsor by visiting our sponsorship page.