Funny enough I just had a guy come to the door last week with World Vision and I finally did what I said I was always going to do and put up the money and sponsor a child.
Obviously I can't say I have good or bad thoughts on the experience itself just yet, they did answer a few important questions for me which may help your decision making process.
Firstly, they let you choose where and who to sponsor. You can choose a boy or girl and they give you a plethora of locations where there is the greatest need.
I asked how much money actually goes to the child, instead of lining the pockets of some exec in Toronto. They claim 85% goes to the child which is the highest of any foundation out there. I pay $35 per month with a minimum of a one year guarantee and they would like to see a long term commitment of 10-15 years or until the Child is self sustainable.
Lastly I asked if they were a Christian organization. His reply was that there were a lot of Christians in the organization however they are primarily non-demoniational. This is important to me as I do not have any issues per se with Christian values but I do not want to be promoting a missionary organization. I am not into the business of having children convert religions because they need the money. If they are muslim or jewish or some kind of obscure frog worshipping society I don't want to give my money to a society that is intent on changing their belief system.
I hope this helps you. I will keep you updated if I get any info packages in the mail. As much as I would like to think this is an altruistic act on my part it is really a guilt relieving mechanism and a way to make me feel better about my over indulgent western life style, but I hope it truly helps out in some way.
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