What can happen in one year? For many, one year simply marks one more wrinkle, one more pant size, and one more bill to pay. Some are memorable, while others go by unnoticed. For others, one year marks the moment in which they decided to give the gift of another year to a child in need.
 
Child sponsorship is a form of giving in which you can impact the life of a child in an intimate manner. By investing in their future, they are equipped with the tools and care they need to fulfill their greatest potential. While the length of sponsorship varies on the situation of the sponsor and the recipient, we recommend potential donors to commit at least one year to sponsoring a child.
 

  
One year allows time for you to build a lifelong relationship with the child.
 
In child sponsorship, your donation marks the beginning of a lifelong relationship between you and the child. You will receive photos, handwritten letters, and report cards to track their academic progress. Sponsors frequently reciprocate by sending photos of themselves along with their letters, most of which end up in the child’s family album. By giving monetarily, you are not only providing the material items needed to excel; you are providing an opportunity to personally enrich another’s life and be enriched in return.
  
One year allows you to provide peace of mind to an entire community for a lifetime.
  
As the African proverb proclaims, we believe that it takes a whole village to raise a child. Contrary to popular belief, child sponsorship does not exclusively provide the adequate materials and care to the sponsored child. Your donation is pooled with other monies from sponsored children in the area and is used to collectively provide for the children in need in the community. By sponsoring a child for at least a year, you can ensure that your efforts are not simply a year of short-lived progress, but a year that lays the foundation for sustainable community growth.
  
Sponsoring a child is a wonderful way to directly improve the quality of life of a child in poverty. By giving a dollar a day, you can provide a child with the necessary food, water, shelter, and school supplies that enable them to excel. The duration of a sponsorship can last many years and is dependent on the child and the sponsor’s unique situation. However, by committing at least a year to sponsoring a child in need, you can say that this year, you changed a life.