Our Australian staff are working from home and would love to chat with you. If you have any questions or concerns about your sponsorship during this time, please give us a call on 1300 22 44 53 or email compassion@compassion.com.au.

Please understand that we are currently unable to meet in person.

When a birthday or family gift is given, Compassion’s normal process is to have a staff member consult with the family and then travel, purchase and deliver your gift. During the COVID-19 pandemic, however, that process can create additional burdens and dangers for Compassion field staff.

Because of that, we are now encouraging field staff to disburse monetary gifts to an appropriate, verified caregiver if it is unsafe or not possible to deliver the gift in person. This applies to family gifts and child gifts, including birthday and graduation gifts. During the pandemic, families may spend the gift on whatever they consider most important to meet family needs. The caregiver will be notified whether a gift has been designated as a child gift or family gift. The caregiver will decide the best use of the money, recognising that sometimes purchasing food or paying rent is in the best interest of a child.

Sponsored children will usually have the opportunity to write a thank you letters to their sponsor after a gift is given. Depending on the local context, these letters may be delayed until children can safely return to their centres.

For those local church partners unable to distribute money during this time, physical gifts will likely be delayed until centres are fully operational again.

You can:

• Find out the latest update for your sponsored child’s country on our COVID-19 Country Update page

• Give a gift

• Write a letter

During the COVID-19 pandemic, your letters are still being delivered to children, although delivery to and from your sponsored child may take a bit longer than normal. We encourage you to continue writing to your sponsored child, as all children need words of hope and encouragement now more than ever before.

Many of our child development centres have experienced, and in some cases continue to experience, periods of temporary closure to abide by their local government’s restrictions and lockdown measures. In these cases, it may be unlikely that sponsored children are able to write back until their centre has reopened. The situation is rapidly evolving and different in every region, so we encourage you to regularly visit our COVID-19 country update pages to find out more.

You can:

• Read how to write to your sponsored child during a crisis

• Write a letter

• Give your sponsored child a gift

You can provide additional support during the COVID-19 pandemic to your sponsored child in a number of ways:

• Pray specifically for your sponsored child, their family and their community.

• Write a letter to your sponsored child to offer hope and encouragement during a challenging season. Due to the pandemic, some letters are taking a little longer than usual to arrive, but it’s still worth writing because we know how much letters mean to both sponsor and child!

• Give a financial gift to your sponsored child, their family or their child development centre.

Find out more:

• How can I give a gift to my sponsored child?

• How do pandemics affect the poor?

• Contact us if you need help setting up a gift

During the global COVID-19 pandemic, many of our local church partners have had to temporarily pause in-person group activities to abide by their government’s restrictions and lockdown measures. In these situations, funds previously used for group activities at the child development centres are now being used to deliver necessities to children and their families, including food, clean water, shelter, clothing, household items, educational supplies, medical care and trauma counselling.

For example, in Honduras, local church partners came up with an emergency plan to purchase, pack and deliver groceries and other essential supplies to vulnerable families. In El Salvador, church staff members have delivered bottled water, non-perishable food items and hand sanitiser to family members who are unable to obtain or afford these items on their own. And in other countries, those who are ill are being supported with medicine, vitamins and health advice.

Find out more:

• Get the latest update for your sponsored child’s country during COVID-19

• How can I help my sponsored child during COVID-19?

The process of purchasing and delivering Christmas gifts is different to the process of downloading, printing and delivering letters. To process Christmas letters, local staff need to be able to access national offices and child development centres and right now many are closed. However, this is not the case for organising and purchasing gifts as during the pandemic local church partners have the temporary option to deliver gifts as a direct cash disbursement rather than material goods if necessary.

Yes! Despite the challenges of the current pandemic, Compassion’s local church partners are committed to arranging a special Christmas gift for Compassion assisted child. This year, there are three different approaches local staff may take to deliver gifts:

1. In countries where the impact of COVID-19 is less widespread, local staff members hope to provide Christmas gifts the way they normally do. In this case, donations will be used to buy a tangible, thoughtful gift for each child and given to them during a Christmas celebration at their child development centre.
2. In other countries and communities where COVID-19 quarantines are still being enforced, donations will be given to children directly and safely. For example, a staff member or volunteer may deliver the gift to children’s homes while wearing a mask and gloves.
3. For families facing critical needs, gifts may be delivered directly as cash. That way, children's caregivers can decide how best to use the money to provide for their family.
   

Even if this year’s gift is providing for a necessity like hygiene supplies or food rather than a traditional Christmas toy, your sponsored child will know that he or she is loved and remembered.

You can set up your annual Christmas gift donation in My Account.