If a child is thriving, everyone’s thriving. 

That’s why sponsorship matters so much to me!  When you sponsor a child through World Vision, you're not only personally showing God’s love to a child in need, you’re also investing in a proven way to help that child and their community stand tall, free from poverty.

Here's my story... 

In 2004, my wife Jean attended a “Women of Faith” conference and came home with a photo of a child.  With that simple act, she introduced our family to World Vision sponsorship and we added an Ethiopian boy named Gizachew to our family.  We sent monthly donations to Gizachew and his family as we exchanged letters, photos, and prayers. Over the years, we witnessed the improvement that was taking place in his community as our own children learned about our duty to care for others and became more aware of the blessings we enjoy in our lives.  We watched Gizachew grow and in 2019, we got to visit him in Ethiopia.  We spent a beautiful afternoon with Gizachew and his family, sharing a meal, exchanging gifts and laughing as we got to know each other in person. We toured an irrigation project, a reforestation initiative and a women’s savings group that were supported by our donations.  Our relatively small monetary gifts had helped to provide significant improvement in Gizachew’s community. 

We have continued to sponsor several World Vision children in Viet Nam, Albania, Kenya, and Honduras.  We have seen our donations help the children and their families, as well as their communities.  We understand that 89% of our donation goes directly to the work of World Vision.  We are confident that the local community is intimately involved in the planning and implementation of all of the World Vision projects that affect them.  And we know that World Vision is preparing the community to exist on its own, independent and self sustaining, once World Vision’s work is done.  All of these qualities moved us to speak to other friends and other families to tell them about the power of sponsorship and to offer the opportunity to sponsor a child through World Vision.  Please consider sponsoring a child on this page or contact me at jnauglewv@verizon.net with any questions!