International (MNN) ― Have you ever wondered what kind of impact a gift has?
Around the Christmas season, Compassion International promotes a gift catalog with opportunities for donors to provide clean drinking water, medical treatment, disaster relief, food supplies, and much more, for Compassion-assisted children and their families.
Participation allows people to meet real needs and bring real joy with a Gift of Compassion, then get family and friends involved by giving gifts in their honor.
Over $1.4 million dollars came in with Compassion International's Christmas gift catalog campaign in 2011. 58,000 gifts helped families in Kenya, Haiti, Uganda, Rwanda, Colombia, India, Ghana and 19 other countries.
The top five gift catalog items donors provided last year, in reverse order, were: (5) mosquito nets, (4) goats, (3) safe water, and(2) chickens. And, the #1 gift? God's Word. Compassion teams distributed 15,000 Bibles in 26 countries as a result of the participation.
This is actually what makes Compassion distinct from other child advocacy/community development groups. They are Christ-centered, child focused, church-based and committed to integrity. In the last year, over 163,000 kids and their moms have come to accept Christ as Savior.
In partnership with the local church, teams can provide child development programs that will deliver kids from economic, physical, social and spiritual poverty, enabling them to become responsible and fulfilled Christian adults.
They also speak out for children in poverty -- informing, motivating, and equipping others to become advocates for children.
Compassion helps more than 1.2 million children in 26 countries.
