The ABC's of Compassion - Bite Back

Last week, I posted my first ABC's of Compassion post, sharing about Act for Compassion.

Next up is the letter B.

This week has to do with Jordan Foxworthy and mosquitoes.

Now I know what you are thinking, neither one of those start with the letter B.

Hang on, we will get to that. But first, let me tell you about Jordan Foxworthy.

You probably know who her dad is. Her dad is Jeff Foxworthy. We used to watch the show he hosted, "Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader?"

Little did we know when we first began sponsoring with Compassion, that Jordan and her dad had gone on a Compassion trip to Kenya.

You can watch an interview of her and her dad here, because she can explain it much better than I can:

This video is from 9 years ago!

And there is still a big malaria problem in the world, primarily in Africa.

Children are dying every couple of minutes from malaria!

But with the Bite Back program, for just $20, you can provide a life saving net for a family living in areas where malaria is prevalent.

Want to do something more?

Sign up for a Bite Back kit!

With the Bite Back kit, you can create your own fundraiser to raise awareness and funds to help more children sleep safely at night!

So how are you going to Bite Back?

The ABC's of Compassion - Act for Compassion

I am going out on a limb here and starting a 26 post series about Compassion. Each post will have to do with one aspect of Compassion and start with a letter of the alphabet.

None of the posts have been written yet. This is my first one!

I hope to write and post these each week so that you can learn more about Compassion from a volunteer's perspective.

First up...Act for Compassion!

What is it?

Stealing this from the Act for Compassion page..."a platform that exists to help you create online campaigns to take action to release children from poverty."

When the Act for Compassion web site was first launched, I did a Bake for Brazil campaign.

My original goal for this online campaign was for 19 people to join me by raising $50 each. I was never able to find the other 19 people, but I was able to raise $100 baking and selling homemade baked goods to my local friends and family.

For the Act for Compassion fundraising campaigns, you can set one up for your birthday, anniversary, wedding, Christmas, etc. Currently, the campaigns are focusing on Bibles, clean water, goats, Haiti, and Ecuador. Be sure to check the Act for Compassion page because areas of critical need change on a regular basis.

Want to focus on finding sponsors for waiting children?

You can do that too!

What I love about the Act for Compassion sponsorship campaign...you can set up your challenge to focus on different countries, ages, longest waiting, and a few other criteria.

So let's say, you just got back from a Compassion sponsor trip to Kenya.

Now you want to help find more sponsors for some children like the ones you fell in love with.

Set up your Act for Compassion sponsorship campaign for children just from Kenya!

One way I have used the sponsorship campaign, I set up a campaign to run in conjunction with my Compassion Sunday. This way, if people are searching for children by birthday, they could check my Act for Compassion sponsorship campaign to find a child whose birthday matched their own child's birthday!

One other area of the Act for Compassion page is the volunteer area.

Do you know that volunteers are a huge part of Compassion?

You can volunteer at Compassion partnered events.

Live in Colorado Springs? You can volunteer at Compassion Headquarters.

And, every now and then, there are volunteer leadership positions available as a way for you to serve!

As a sponsor, you are welcome to join the public Act for Compassion group on Facebook. And I also am the admin for the Act for Compassion Northern California group. 

These groups are great places to get encouragement and support, especially if you are looking to take the next step and become more involved as a volunteer with Compassion.

What questions do you have about Act for Compassion?

Shoot, Share, and Don't Stress

My friends over at Compassion have started doing monthly webinars again which I am so excited about! These monthly webinars help each one of us be more effective advocates for Compassion.

The crazy thing is, they actually asked me to be on a panel with my friend Sam for this month's webinar, Get Social Media Savvy.

Who is Sam?

Sam is the social media manager at Compassion. His team handles all of the Compassion blog posts and all the social media channels for Compassion. I can't even imagine how crazy busy his team is on an every day basis!

Just so you know, I am not a social media expert. I just want to use my voice and the tools that are available to help spread the message of Compassion.

The webinar should be available very soon if you are interested in watching it.

In the meantime, I thought I would recap my three points in how you can use social media to advocate for Compassion.

Shoot - take pictures!

What should you take pictures of? A sponsor selfie, letter writing, attending the Compassion Experience, hosting a Compassion Sunday, volunteering at a Compassion event, any photos that have to do with your involvement with Compassion.

The biggie photo? If you have had the chance to travel and meet your Compassion sponsored child, I sure hope you have photos from that experience!

Since there are people in your sphere of influence who might still be skeptical of Compassion, a photo of you with your sponsored child speaks volumes!!

Now that you have some photos, what should you do with them?

Share - post them on your favorite social media channel!

With each photo that you share, write something from your heart about that photo and/or experience.

Sponsor selfie - why do you sponsor a Compassion child?

Letter writing - maybe share something from a recent letter from your sponsored child

Compassion Experience - share the impact this experience had on you and your family

Compassion Sunday - share why you advocate for other Compassion children

Volunteering - share something meaningful from your experience

Meeting your Compassion sponsored child - if you have had this opportunity, I am sure you can share volumes about this experience!

What else can you share?

Compassion has great content on all of their social media channels. When you see something they have posted that resonates with you, add a few of your own thoughts and share!

You can also mention Compassion and use hashtags in your posts. Compassion might just respond to your post to encourage you!

So what is the last point?

Don't Stress

I am going to say it again...I am not an expert!

Don't worry about knowing all the social media rules and guidelines.

Share from your heart!

Keep a balance - if you post regularly on social media, make sure it is not all about Compassion. 

Don't be discouraged - not all of your Compassion posts will bring Compassion sponsors. Be faithful in sharing. God already knows who will be sponsoring Compassion children and He will bring them about in His timing!

Still have questions? Comment below and I will try to answer them or find someone who can answer them for us!

A Special Birthday Mailing

This past weekend, someone pretty special to us had her 19th birthday.

We have known this young lady for almost 8 years.

I am the only one in our family who has met her.

She lives approximately 3,665 miles from us on another continent.

Over the last 8 years, we have exchanged a lot of letters back and forth.

Who is this young lady?

This is Lina! Our Compassion sponsored child who lives in Colombia.

So what is the special birthday mailing I sent to her?

Since we have received photo updates of her over the past 8 years, plus I have photos from my trip to Colombia 3 years ago, I created this photo page using Canva:

I used the online letter writing tool in my Compassion account to send a birthday card to Lina. Then I uploaded this image to the card as a full page photo. I sure hope she enjoys seeing how much she has grown over the past 8 years!

If you sponsor Compassion children, what special things do you like to send to your sponsored child for their birthday?

Twelve Days of Compassion Christmas

Are you looking for a way to incorporate the Compassion Gift Catalog into your Christmas?

I kind of threw this together and have a few more ideas of expanding it, but I wanted to share this with all of you now.

Here is what you need to get started:

1. Compassion's Gift Catalog (either a physical copy or access it online)
2. Empty jar
3. Dollar bills and coins
4. Scissors
5. Small clothespins
6. Twelve Days of Compassion Christmas printable
7. Twelve Days of Compassion Christmas printable ornaments

Once you have gathered all of the supplies, cut out the small ornaments. Attach them to your Christmas tree with the clothespins or create a banner with them somewhere in your home where everyone in your family can see them.

Pick twelve days in December. Mark these on your calendar.

On each of these twelve days, read the fact from the Twelve Days of Compassion Christmas printable, look up the item in the gift catalog, have some discussion, and put the money you collected for each day in your jar.

After you have completed the tasks for all twelve days, add up how much money is in your jar. Select an item from Compassion's Gift Catalog. You can place your order online, by mail (if you have a physical copy of the catalog), or by phone.

Your gift will help a child growing up in extreme poverty!

This may be the best gift your family has ever purchased!

If you give this a try or have some feedback, let you know!