Sponsor an Orphanage

I saw this on Angel's blog, and couldn't wait to share the news on our blog, too! Please read all about how the Red Letters Campaign has joined up with Children's Hopechest. This is a great opportunity to get involved. Think about what you can teach your own children about the world and the needs of other children by sponsoring a child in Ethiopia. And you may just decide to go down for a visit, too! A partnership has developed between Red Letters Campaign and Children's Hopechest. This is opening wonderful new opportunities for orphans in Ethiopia.In the past Children's Hopechest has only had churches sponsor an orphan community. But, they are excited about the possibility of an online community (Red Letters Campaign!) taking on sponsorship as well. For the FIRST time EVER they are allowing you to come on board as a member of an on line community through RLC. Here is what sponsoring an ORPHAN via Hope Chest looks like... -You will be assigned an orphan from sponsored orphanage.-$35 a month which will meet your child's physical, emotional, social, and spiritual needs.-you will exchange letters with your child (either via email through Hopechest or through handwritten via Hopechest)-you will know who else is sponsoring the other children at the same orphanage-An annual trip will be offered in which you will have the opportunity to go to Ethiopia, spend time with your sponsored child, their orphanage, and the online sponsoring community. (How amazing would it be to be in Ethiopia together loving on the same sponsored orphanage!) Here is what Red Letters Campaign is working on...

1. The possibility of a password protected part of the RLC web page where we could all see pictures of all the sponsor kids. Every mission team would post their pics and videos for everyone to share. That way we could really get to know "our kids." 2. On the password protected site would also be posted letters from the sponsored kids... you could also e-mail your sponsor child right through RLC. 3. In April there will be a HUGE Launch Ethiopia mission trip. We will make an effort to get a bunch of RLC people going and send donations for all of our sponsored kids. If you attend you will have a chance to meet the kids, get to know the beauty and hardship of Africa and blog about your experience. 4. We will make efforts to set up a conference call with Tom Davis for all of those interested in sponsoring through Children's Hopechest and/or attending the mission trip. A few things that Hope Chest does that I think is extra sweet and different ... the orphanages they work with are not currently enrolled in any other sponsorship programs... the child that you will sponsor will have your family as their only sponsor. Hopechest is able to provide everything for the orphanage and thus able to create a tight, LONG TERM, relationship between the sponsoring community and orphanage. Hopechest has local staff that check in on the orphanage regularly, mentor the children weekly, and share Jesus with them. The goal would be that this would be YOUR sponsor child until they are grown. The hope is that this will be a very special relationship for your family and the child you sponsor. As a RLC community we would work to visit these children, love them and give them a sense of what family feels like.I know this is a lot.... I encourage you to check out the Children's Hopechest website to learn more. We are trying to get an idea for how many are interested so we know what size of orphanage to sponsor! If you think you might be interested either email the RLC Ethiopia Lead-Amy at (amyde63 [at] hotmail [dot] com) and copy me on the email as well- angel weir @ gmail dot comI am THRILLED to have the opportunity for our blog community to minister to an orphan community together. We can't bring them all into families.... this is a wonderful chance to bring a bit of family to them.