Ten years ago, Kristin and I made a commitment that for every 529 account that was opened that year we would sponsor a child through Compassion International. We chose a few young children from various countries but we also chose an older boy named Mike from Haiti who was 10 years old at the time. We chose him primarily because he and I have the same name but also because older children have a harder time receiving sponsorship. We've spent the past 10 years writing letters back and forth to Mike and supporting him financially each month through Compassion's sponsorship program. He turned 22 last month and we just received notice that he is graduating from the program so we've been invited to send our final letter to him this month.
We have learned a lot of things about Mike over the years through his letters but one thing that he told us about often was how hard he was working in school. More recently he shared with us that his dream since he was a boy had been to do computer science someday but he could not go to school for that due to safety concerns. So instead the past few years he went to school to learn industrial electricity, which he also found interesting, and he has just received his diploma for that program. We are so proud of him and excited for him to a have achieved this goal after so much hard work.
Sometimes we think that we have to do big things to make a difference in the lives of others. But small things like a monthly child sponsorship and writing encouraging letters are also significant. In fact, before graduating from the program in 2011, the girl Kristin began sponsoring 30 years ago wrote a letter telling Kristin that her sister gave their new baby my wife's name so the child would grow up remembering the wonderful things that Kristin did for their family. Kristin still has that letter posted to her bulletin board to this day as a reminder that nothing we do is too small or insignificant to the one receiving it.