Riley the Little Sweetie - Trying to Change the World One Kid at a Time....

Riley came up with a plan to sponsor a child a few days ago. Since it costs $35 a month he figured he, John and I would split the cost and each pay $11.66. Then he asked us to make lists of chores and stuff he could do to earn the money. Riley picked the little boy to sponsor, and he chose Juan who was born the same day as Riley was and who also loves to draw. Riley has also been planning what to get Juan for Christmas and his birthday, and has been figuring out how much money he'll need to earn. He spent $5 of his own money at Michael's last night getting little flat things (stickers and stuff) that he can mail to Juan, and he already has his first letter done - he started writing to Juan about 3 minutes after we completed our sponsorship info online! (= Riley is so excited about sponsoring Juan and "helping him to have a better life" and he is just super sweet about it. He wanted to ask everyone else he knew to sponsor a kid too, because as he said, "there are lots of kids in the world we can help -- and then they can have a better life and be happier!" So, he put together an email to send to everyone he has email addresses for (he told me what to type and had me type most of it for him so it wouldn't take him so long, but some he actually typed some on his own too). Most of you have probably received it already - sorry about the spam, but he was very excited to think of how many people he could reach if he emailed everyone whose address he knew, and then they emailed everyone they knew. (=

In case you didn't get it, here's a copy of Riley's email:

Hi Everyone,

A couple of days ago I picked a boy to sponsor from Columbia. His name is Juan and his birthday is the same day as mine and he likes to draw. We are sponsoring him because his family doesn’t have very much money, so we signed up to pay $35 per month so that way he can have a little better life. I am going to do chores to earn $11.66 per month and my mom and dad are going to pay $11.66 per month too. I am going to send him a letter every week so that way he can get letters from me and I am going to put stickers in them. We’re putting stickers in them so that Juan can play with them, and we can only mail flat things to him. There are a lot of kids all over the world that we need to help so could you please sponsor a child too? There are 22 kids that live by Juan that need to be sponsored, and there are lots of kids all over that need to be sponsored too. Basically if you sponsor a kid you are helping them have a better life.

Here’s a link to see the kids who need a sponsor:
https://mail.ex1.secureserver.net/owa/redir.aspx?C=649d0dc11f6c439a84aaadc6f3af2bc7&URL=http%3a%2f%2fwww.worldvision.org%2f%23%2fhome%2fmain%2fhelp-change-a-childs-life-today%2f1%2f1119

And here’s a link to see the website about where Juan lives: https://mail.ex1.secureserver.net/owa/redir.aspx?C=649d0dc11f6c439a84aaadc6f3af2bc7&URL=http%3a%2f%2fdonate.worldvision.org%2fOA_HTML%2fmySponsorship%2fCOL%2f164862%2findex.html%3fcampaign%3d1038085

If you sponsor a kid tell me who they are and some stuff about them please. And if you do this I’ll tell you more about Juan too.
and I think it would be cool if we could sponsor every one so please forward it to every one you now.

Love,
Riley.

Here is the info we got about Juan so far:

Juan David lives with his mother and 2 brothers. His mother is a household helper and struggles to provide for the family. Despite her efforts, it is difficult to meet the family's needs.
Juan David is growing up in a poor community in Colombia. Rice, beans and banana are typical of the local diet. World Vision recently expanded its efforts in Colombia to help families in some communities recover from a devastating earthquake. Homes here are made of wood, cement and scrap material. The soil is volcanic and the temperatures are mild.

Juan David is not in school at this time. He likes to play soccer. He helps at home by picking up shoes. He is in satisfactory health.

Your sponsorship commitment will help provide Juan David and his community with school fees, scholarships, health care, special-needs care and improved nutrition. In addition, your support provides vocational training to help parents raise the standard of living for these children and their families. Finally, through Christian witness, these precious families will have a chance to know the love and grace of God.