Tag Archives: sponsors

Shelley Callahan | En Español

Spanning over 2,000 miles of South America’s western coastline with deserts in the north, rainforests in the south, and the snowcapped peaks of the Andes Mountains ranging throughout, Chile is truly a nation of contrasts. Although politically progressive when it comes to human rights, Chile suffers from excessive inflation and an ever-increasing unemployment rate. Due to these economic realities, millions of Chileans are desperately poor.

Chile suffers from excessive inflation and an ever-increasing unemployment rate. Due to these economic realities, millions of Chileans are desperately poor.

Facts about Chile

  • The capital of Chile is Santiago
  • The currency is the Chilean Peso
  • The population is 18 million
  • The official language is Spanish
  • Chile is the world’s longest country
  • There are approximately 90 active volcanoes in Chile
  • Easter Island officially belongs to the country of Chile


Facts about poverty in Chile

  • Although Chile has a relatively low poverty rate of 14%, the problem lies in high rates of income inequality.
  • There are approximately 75,000 Chilean children who do not attend school.
  • Healthcare inequalities among the poor are a big issue in Chile meaning poor families often get low-quality services or none at all.
  • Due to high rates of domestic violence in Santiago, many children flee their homes to live on the streets, where they struggle to find adequate food and water.

Where we work in Chile

In Chile, we are affiliated with three sites: The Handicapped Children’s Center, the Maipu Center and the Santiago Day School, all of which are located in Santiago.

Read more about our affiliated sites in Chile

Impacted for a Lifetime 

New Teachers with Fresh Ideas in Chile

Easing the Burden on Families in Santiago


How you can help children in Chile

You can help a child living in poverty in Chile in a few different ways. One way is through our child sponsorship program. Sponsorship provides an underprivileged child with basic and education-related necessities such as food, clothing, healthcare, school supplies and school tuition payments.

This vital support allows impoverished, vulnerable children to develop to their full potential — physically, emotionally and socially. Sponsors positively impact the lives of the children they sponsor through the knowledge that someone cares about their wellbeing. This gives children in need hope, which is powerful.

Our policy has always been to consider the needs of each sponsored child on an individual basis. We work closely with our volunteer coordinators at our project sites in Chile, who are familiar with the individual circumstances and needs of every child in their care. Sponsorship donations are sent to our sites — orphanages, homes, community centers and schools — at the beginning of each month in the form of subsidy stipends. Our on-site volunteer coordinators use those funds to purchase items for children in our program, to ensure that they have what they need to do their very best and succeed in school.

We work closely with our volunteer coordinators at our project sites in Chile, who are familiar with each individual circumstance and the needs of every child in their care.

You can also help children in Chile by donating to one of our special funds. Our special funds offer a variety of giving options for sponsors who wish to further their support, as well as for donors who wish to make a difference without making a commitment. In the past, thanks to donations to our Hope In Action Fund and our International Feeding Program, we have been able to further support our projects in Chile beyond sponsorship.

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How do I sponsor a child in Chile?

You can sponsor a child in Chile in one of three ways: call our office at 1-800-538-5381 and speak with one of our staff members; email us at sponsorship@children-inc.org; or go online to our sponsorship portal, create an account, and search for a child in Chile that is available for sponsorship.

SPONSOR A CHILD

Education, Stories of Hope, Chile

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written by Shelley Callahan

Shelley is the Director of Development for Children Incorporated. She is also the lead social correspondent, regularly contributing insights through the Stories of Hope blog series. Sign up for Stories of Hope to receive weekly email updates about how your donations are changing the lives of children in need.

» more of Shelley's stories
Shelley Callahan | En Español

It is an unfortunate reality that, when it comes to our affiliated projects around the world, including in urban and rural areas in the United States, we often hear from our volunteer coordinators that there just aren’t enough funds provided to them to help every child in need. Sometimes the reason is that a school’s budget has been cut, or the number of children in attendance is growing faster than the administration can keep up with; or maybe a significant donor is no longer able to fund certain programs, and no new donor has replaced them. Whatever the reason, a lack of funding means that children living in poverty suffer without basic resources, and they are at risk of falling behind in school.

Because funding isn’t always secure for the schools, community centers, and orphanages with which we partner, our volunteer coordinators are endlessly grateful for our sponsors and donors, who help the kids in their care that are enrolled in our program.

Because funding isn’t always secure for the schools, community centers, and orphanages with which we partner, our volunteer coordinators are endlessly grateful for our sponsors and donors, who help the kids in their care that are enrolled in our program. Donations from Children Incorporated don’t always cover the needs of every child at a project, however; and in many cases, our coordinators seek help from the surrounding community in order to ensure that kids living in poverty are getting what they need. One such volunteer coordinator who did just that is Deloris at Mullins Elementary School in Pike County, Kentucky.

Rebuilding her center

Sponsor a child in Kentucky.

Deloris shows Renée and Shelley her supply closet, which is full, thanks to a local church.

Mullins Elementary School is a spacious and well-equipped newer school located just outside the Pikeville city limits. Deloris originally worked in the school’s front office; then she was transferred to the family resource center when our last volunteer coordinator there, Tammy, retired a few years ago. On a trip to visit the school, our Director of U.S. Programs, Renée Kube, and our U.S. Projects Specialist, Shelley Oxenham, met with Deloris, who explained that when she took over in her new position, she felt like she was starting from square one.

The center had been completely cleaned out after Tammy’s departure, and Deloris found that she had almost no budget to work with and no supplies to distribute to kids who were going to school without proper clothes or any school supplies at all. She told Shelley and Renée that it has been a big task for her to rebuild the center from the ground up. She has had to work hard to figure out how to provide for the students at the school, as well as for their families, who she knows all too well are struggling to make a living in this impoverished region of the United States.

Getting the supplies she needs

In order to obtain the food and school supplies she needed, she reached out to a church in the community to make food baskets during Thanksgiving and Christmas for families who would otherwise go without holiday meals. The church also held a school supplies drive that enabled Deloris to stock a closet in her center. Thankfully, when it comes to the donations that sponsored children are receiving from their sponsors, Deloris has had the funds in place to shop for children enrolled in our program so that they receive new clothes, shoes, and school supplies, as well as hygiene items on a monthly basis.

Before their visit ended, Shelley and Renée discussed how Deloris could identify more children to enroll in our sponsorship program so that we could hopefully link them with sponsors, too. Deloris was excited to work towards getting more children sponsored, with the hope that with additional sponsorships paired with continued help from the community, she could ensure that all the kids at Mullins Elementary School are receiving the consistent support they so desperately need.

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HOW DO I SPONSOR A CHILD IN KENTUCKY?

You can sponsor a child in Kentucky in one of two ways: call our office at 1-800-538-5381 and speak with one of our staff members, or email us at sponsorship@children-inc.org.

Ron Carter | En Español

I recently had the privilege of visiting several schools in West Virginia where Children Incorporated offers our child sponsorship program. It had been several years since my last visit to these schools; while I had clear memories from my previous trips, I wasn’t sure what I would find this go-around. Reflecting on the fact that everything in our world changes rapidly, I expected to find that these West Virginia schools were different from how they were when I last visited them. What I discovered, however, is that I was wrong to anticipate significant changes, for visiting these schools was, in many ways, like stepping back in time.

Sponsoring a child changes their life.

Mr. Carter with our Volunteer Coordinator Lara at Genoa Elementary School

The first two schools I visited, Genoa Elementary School and Dunlow Elementary School, both in Wayne County, West Virginia, are very small institutions; one has a total enrollment of approximately 75 students, and the other, just around ninety. The school buildings are old and showing signs of wear after many years of use; and both sit in extremely rural areas, void of businesses and commerce.

As I drove to these schools from Huntington, West Virginia, a city of 50,000 people less than an hour away, I couldn’t help but feel a drastic shift from city to country — from have to have not. The roads began to curve; some became much narrower and less maintained. Businesses and houses became fewer and farther apart. Then, while seemingly in the middle of nowhere, I arrived at the first school I was scheduled to visit: Genoa Elementary School.

Hearing from our sponsored children

While the staff at the school was extremely welcoming to me — and they clearly take their responsibility of caring for students quite seriously — the heaviness of poverty just hung in the air. It was palpable; I could feel it. As I interacted with several students enrolled in the Children Incorporated sponsorship program, I was moved by their obvious need.

As I spoke with one little girl, she told me that her sponsor writes her letters and encourages her to study hard and always do her homework. She said that she always looks forward to the letters she receives from this woman, for they remind her that someone cares about her and wants her to succeed in life. A little boy at the same school showed me some of his artwork, and he told me that his sponsor sent money for the supplies he used to create his little masterpieces. He was very thankful for the gift.

For more than half a decade, we have been touching lives and offering hope and opportunity in areas where necessities are often in short supply. That, friends, is why our organization exists; and you, through your generous support of our work, make it all possible.

Our wonderful volunteer coordinator at the school shared that a number of children would go without shoes, warm clothing, and food if it weren’t for assistance provided by their sponsors through our organization. She voiced her appreciation, as did the school principal, for all the years that Children Incorporated has helped the poorest among their student body to fit in and experience a sense of normalcy while at school, by providing them with clothing similar to those worn by less financially-stressed youngsters. She talked of the significance of ensuring that these children, too, have pencils and paper, and adequate school supplies, as well as food on the weekends, when they do not receive the free hot meals provided on weekdays in the school cafeteria.

A sense of hope

At the second school I visited, Dunlow Elementary — even further away from a major city, and perhaps even more remote – I found a very similar situation: a small, dedicated, caring staff working very hard to ensure that the children they serve are being well-provided-for and are offered a safe place in which to learn and grow. Children who live in extreme poverty, as most of the youngsters enrolled in our programs do, look forward to attending school, because while there, they not only have access to heat, clean water, and nutritious food — things often missing in their home lives – but they also experience a sense of hope and possibility for their futures. They see beyond what is to what could be, and they dare to dream.

It saddens me that the assistance offered by Children Incorporated is still so vitally important in the lives of these youngsters; yet I am also grateful that we can be there to extend a helping hand and offer support that is truly life-changing. That is what Children Incorporated is about: improving the lives of children and their families as they face financial hardships and trials of all kinds. For more than half a decade, we have been touching lives and offering hope and opportunity in areas where necessities are often in short supply. That, friends, is why our organization exists; and you, through your generous support of our work, make it all possible.

Thank you very much!

From the heart,

Ronald H. Carter

President and Chief Executive Officer

About Wayne County, West Virginia

Wayne County is nestled amid the vast natural beauty of the Allegheny Mountains, which still conceal deposits of the coal that once made this a rich and populous area of the Mountaineer State. Automation of mines and the ecological stigmas attached to coal as a fuel source have seriously damaged Wayne County’s economy. With coal mining almost shut down, businesses that once depended upon mining and the buying power of miners have closed. Unemployment continues to rise, and industry development remains at a crawl.

Like many small towns in this rural part of West Virginia, Genoa is remote, located far from any sizeable town or city. A few strip mines still produce coal, and there are some sawmills that cut lumber. Overall, however, Genoa’s economy is struggling, with high unemployment and a lack of industry development. Many residents in this region live well below the poverty line.

For these reasons, Genoa Elementary School and Dunlow Elementary School serve as beacons of hope and safe havens, as they are among the few places where children from impoverished families can count on support, encouragement, and a warm nutritious meal each day. The caring teachers at these schools strive to improve each child’s self-esteem and well-being through a well-rounded education — the key to breaking the cycle of poverty.

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HOW DO I SPONSOR A CHILD IN WEST VIRGINIA?

You can sponsor a child in West Virginia in one of two ways: call our office at 1-800-538-5381 and speak with one of our staff members, or email us at sponsorship@children-inc.org.

SPONSOR A CHILD

Shelley Callahan | En Español

Phelps Elementary School is on the far eastern side of Pike County, almost to the border between Kentucky and West Virginia, and about 45 minutes from the county seat. On a recent trip to Pike County, our U.S. Projects Specialist, Shelley Oxenham, met with our volunteer coordinator at the school, Brandi, who talked with Shelley about the level of poverty among families in the area, and why many of them are having a hard time making ends meet.

Even as a young boy, Danny is very aware of the poverty in which his family lives, and he knows that he would go without so much in his life if he weren’t receiving help from his sponsor.

Phelps Elementary School serves children from preschool through the sixth grade, with an enrollment of about 350 students. Brandi explained that many families of sponsored and unsponsored children who attend the school have an income that is 200 percent below the Federal Poverty Line. Jobs in the area are mostly for minimum wage; local businesses include Family Dollar, Dollar General, and a few independently-owned companies and stores.

Some members of the community travel to Pikeville for work – but only if they can earn more money by doing so, to make the commute back and forth worth their time and effort. A few parents are employed at the local Kellogg Company factory, but many of those jobs require long hours away from home, which is not ideal – especially for single parents.

Many of our sponsored students feel that sponsorship has changed their lives.

Meeting Danny

During Shelley’s visit, Brandi took her on a tour of the school, where she was able to meet a few students enrolled in our program. Shelley recalls that one student in particular, Danny*, really stood out to her.

Even as a young boy, Danny is very aware of the poverty in which his family lives, and he knows that he would go without so much in his life if he weren’t receiving help from his sponsor. While Shelley talked with Danny, he told her, “Having a sponsor has changed my life. She has helped me with so much. I need so much. That is what my sponsor is for, thankfully.”

After meeting with Danny, Shelley learned from Brandi that without his Children Incorporated sponsor, Danny would never have decent clothes, shoes, school supplies, or hygiene items, which are all so important to him – as they are to all children – while he’s growing up.

*Name changed for child’s protection.

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HOW DO I SPONSOR A CHILD IN KENTUCKY?

You can sponsor a child in Kentucky in one of two ways: call our office at 1-800-538-5381 and speak with one of our staff members, or email us at sponsorship@children-inc.org.

SPONSOR A CHILD

Shelley Callahan | En Español

Oftentimes, children living in poverty have to grow up quickly. Their parents might work long hours away from home – or even out of town – which means kids must cook their own meals and put themselves to bed without mom or dad tucking them in. Sometimes, unfortunately, even if a parent is not working out of the house, they are not emotionally, psychologically, or physically capable of caring for their children.

Instead of focusing on school and getting to play with their friends and siblings, older brothers and sisters end up helping raise kids themselves – which can add a lot of stress to their lives.

In instances like these, kids find themselves taking on all household responsibilities, including watching over their younger siblings. Instead of focusing on school and getting to play with their friends and siblings, older brothers and sisters end up helping raise kids themselves – which can add a lot of stress to their lives.

Just a step ahead of her siblings

On a recent trip to visit Feds Creek Elementary School in Pike County, Kentucky, our U.S. Projects Specialist, Shelley Oxenham, met with our Volunteer Coordinator Jan, who introduced Shelley to a special student named Laura*.  As a fifth-grader, Laura is helping to raise her younger sisters, Rebecca* and Lori*, even though she herself is only slightly older than the two of them. Although her parents are unemployed and at home during the day, Laura is the one responsible for getting her sisters up and ready in the morning before school, which is a difficult task for a ten-year-old.

Our Volunteer Coordinator Jan with a couple of our sponsored children at Feds Creek Elementary School

Sometimes the girls go to school wearing each other’s clothes; Rebecca has shown up in Lori’s pants and shoes, because that’s what Laura told her to put on. Although it is a lot for her to do, Laura does her best to raise her siblings and make sure they get to school and don’t fall behind.

Thankfully, even though Laura has a great deal of responsibility on her plate at home, when she gets to school, she has Jan and the resource center – as well as support from her sponsor – to give her some much-needed relief. Instead of taking care of others, she can be taken care of by loving and supportive adults, which gives her a chance to concentrate in class and just be the kid she deserves to be.

*Names changed for children’s protection.

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HOW DO I SPONSOR A CHILD IN KENTUCKY?

You can sponsor a child in Kentucky in one of two ways: call our office at 1-800-538-5381 and speak with one of our staff members, or email us at sponsorship@children-inc.org.

Shelley Callahan | En Español

Shelby Valley High School is located in the southern part of Pikeville, Kentucky. The school is fortunate in that U.S. Route 23 traverses its surrounding area. Route 23 is one of only two four-lane highways that pass through the county. This makes this part of Pike County more attractive for businesses; unlike many other counties in Eastern Kentucky, where employment opportunities are slim to none, several small companies dot the route, employing people with marketable skills. There is a daycare center, a nursing and rehab center, a sandwich shop, a small florist, a diner, and a gas station there. The county seat is just eleven miles to the north, so those with reliable transportation find employment there as well.

At Children Incorporated, we believe in every child’s potential – and we take every opportunity we can to ensure that all students in our program realize that they are capable of having bright, promising futures.

Passionate about the mission

Adjacent to the new Valley Elementary School, Shelby Valley High School has an enrollment of approximately 597 students. The school was built in 1990 as a consolidation of two old high school buildings. Shelby Valley became affiliated with Children Incorporated in 1998, as the students who were enrolled in our program at the local middle school moved up to high school. In addition to core curriculum, Shelby Valley offers fine arts, as well as career and technical education. Extracurricular activities include clubs and sports. There is a large athletic complex on the campus, and sports are a big part of student life at the school.

The Family Resource and Youth Services Center (FRYSC) coordinator at Shelby Valley High School is Shannon. Shannon is passionate about FRYSC’s mission, and she is a strong supporter of our organization. On a recent trip to Pike County, our Director of U.S. Programs, Renée Kube, visited with Shannon, who gave her a tour of the building and grounds. She also made arrangements for Renée to meet and talk with a couple of our sponsored children, including Ryan* and his mom, Paula*.

Ryan pictured with his mother, Paula, and Renée.

Encouraging Ryan

Ryan, an only child, and Paula live in an apartment complex located just a few lots behind the school. Ryan is in the twelfth grade and has been in our sponsorship program since he was five years old, when he started kindergarten. Ryan’s mom has some disabilities and is unable leave the house for work.

As they talked in the resource center, Paula told Renée that Children Incorporated has meant so much to her family over the many years that Ryan has been in our program. He has had a few different sponsors since kindergarten, and he has appreciated the help he has received from each of them. Ryan always enjoys writing to his sponsors to let them know that he is grateful for their support, and how helpful it is for his mom to not have to worry about how to get him clothes, shoes, school supplies, and other things he needs as he is growing up.

Ryan told Renée that he has participated in the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) for all four years of high school. Renée could tell from her conversation with him that he is an extremely serious and responsible young man. Ryan expressed that he would like to attend the University of Pikeville, and major in computer science and criminal justice. Renée was excited to hear that he is interested in receiving a higher education, knowing that attending an excellent high school like Shelby Valley and participating in great extracurricular activities like ROTC, Ryan has a good shot at getting into college if he sets his mind to doing so.

Before their meeting ended, Renée made sure to encourage Ryan to continue working hard in school to make his dreams come true. At Children Incorporated, we believe in every child’s potential – and we take every opportunity we can to ensure that all students in our program realize that they are capable of having bright, promising futures.

*Names changed for individuals’ protection.

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HOW DO I SPONSOR A CHILD IN KENTUCKY?

You can sponsor a child in Kentucky in one of two ways: call our office at 1-800-538-5381 and speak with one of our staff members, or email us at sponsorship@children-inc.org.

SPONSOR A CHILD