Volunteering for Compassion

I've spent a lot of hours volunteering for lots of different things in my life, but never have I helped anywhere for something that I am so excited about and that was so much fun.

Compassion seriously is an exciting organization that God is using, not only as an avenue for poverty stricken families to find hope, but also for YOU to interact on a personal basis with a child and change a life. Every child counts and each child needs someone who is willing to spend that dollar a day on them and take the time to write to them, telling them that they matter and that they are special to not only you, but to God.

The Alive Festival is sponsored in part by Compassion; volunteers are there at the booths to help people who want to sign up.

Lots of people had trouble choosing a child when there were so many waiting faces spread out on the table, so some times we would try to find something in common. Twice I saw people wishing to share a birthday with the child they sponsored and both times we found them children with matching birthdays just from the fifty packets lying on the table. For one older gentleman we found a little boy who had a matching birthday and first name!

To top off the excitement of seeing kids get sponsors, we got to listen to a special speaker and two musical groups, the last one being the Newsboys. Yep, I really got to hear God's Not Dead live in concert!

A portion of the crowd :)

Just before the Newsboys played, a man spoke on behalf of Compassion. He is an artist as well so he started out the first minute of his talk by drawing this picture.

Then about twenty of us spread out in the crowd and as he told about Compassion, he told them to raise their hand if they wanted to sponsor a child and then we ran through the crowd to bring them a packet. As the concert ended, there was then a mad rush at the table as lots of those people came back with their packets to fill them out and find out what all they needed to do.

The best part was the last couple who stopped by the table. They were a middle aged couple with two boys. They had heard about Compassion for many years, but just now decided it was time to sponsor a child. They raised their hand for a packet and were handed a girl. The lady came up to the table with sheer excitement and announced that they now have a daughter! Both their boys were there at the festival with them and they'd already taken a family picture while holding the picture of their "daughter".  That little girl is going to feel their love!