Cost is $15 per month, and the payment is tax deductible.
Benefits to the children are as follows:
-two highly-enriched meals each week
-regular Bible lessons (using an excellent Sunday school curriculum designed for use in Honduras, incorporating colorful booklets, songs, games, etc)
-a backpack full of school supplies (plus a Bible and a few toys/gifts) and a pair of new school shoes at the start of each school year
-regular deworming
-annual medical check-ups.
Additionally, the sponsors and children write letters back and forth, at least four times annually. We're fairly generous with the letters, allowing sponsors to send folders, pictures, stickers, and things like that, along with the letters. Sponsors receive a translation of the letter the child wrote, and also receive the original letter - these are generally highly decorated. :)
We also give sponsors the opportunity to put together personalized backpacks, which we ship to Honduras and make sure they get into the hands of the correct children - not a simple task, LOL. Many sponsors take this opportunity to send small gifts to the child and their family, along with the school supplies.
And, for those who are interested in this, we have times each year when sponsors can come down and spend time visiting the children they sponsor, meeting their families, seeing their homes, etc. We do this at a very affordable rate, compared to the large sponsorship programs you would recognize if I said their names. ;)
Big picture - the program is run as an evangelical outreach of the local pastors and their congregations. It is based upon a cross of humanitarian, educational, and evangelistic goals. The pastors running the programs receive no salary, and we personally receive no salary from this program. We do hire a few people, but the overhead costs are intentionally very small. If/when we have income from the sponsorships above and beyond the costs, we use that money to help pay the costs of our non-sponsorship feeding program. Currently we are feeding over 10,000 children in small feeding centers that are not sponsorship centers, over a large portion of western Honduras.
These videos should get you started!
This post, Nitty Gritty Fine Print, shares more details about the sponsorship program!
If you would like to sponsor with Manna 4 Lempira, you can see photos of waiting children by clicking the links:
Additional Resources:
