Letter Project Information for Sponsors

Send a letter to us for your child ANYTIME. We carry the letters into the countries by hand two times a year. Your letter will be kept with the others until the next letter project. (See Sample Letter)

Important:  Please do not include any address, e-mail or contact information of any kind  in your letter or on the envelope.  This is for your protection as well as that of the child.

Please do not promise any gift or visit - even if you ARE planning a trip to the child's country.

It helps so much to receive the letters well ahead of the trip and not within the last few days. The "deadline" is so that the packing can be done ahead, but if I receive your letter before I leave, it goes.

The children love to receive photos of their sponsors, but please do not send any pictures of lightly clothed people, especially no swim wear or sleep wear.

Please use a regular sized envelope or a card with its matching envelope. Please enclose only items which will lie flat and allow the envelope to be sealed. If several of your children write or draw a picture, please put everything in one envelope.

Please do not send money, candy or jewelry.

Letters sent by e-mail are welcome: sue@allowthechildren.org. I am glad to print one or two pictures in color, but if you want to send more than that, I am grateful if they come by mail.

If it is hard for you to write a letter, a colorful card with a short note ("Praying for you") is enough to delight the child.

If you sponsor several children, one newsy letter with copies made for each is a good idea. I am glad to make the copies, envelope them, label, etc if sent early, but it is difficult in the last few days before departure.

Though we try very hard, we do not see every child on every trip, especially those who live in the remote areas. The answer to your letter may return with me from this trip or it may not come until next trip.

Some children never write, no matter how much we encourage and request it. They are just too overwhelmed with the thought of writing to someone in America, or they are too young and our partner has not found time to help them. Please know that we try very hard to get a return letter to you.

If you signed your letter with only your first name and did not put your full name on the outside of the envelope we may not be able to match a return letter marked just "Lisa" (for example) back to you.

If your (American) child writes the letter to your sponsored child, please put your name (the sponsor's name) on the envelope as well. This is extra important if your child's last name differs from yours.

If you put only the child's first name and no ID# on the envelope, it may never be successfully matched to him/her. If YOUR name (the sponsor's name) is on the envelope, I can look up your child. But first names only on the envelope and within the letter often becomes a time consuming mystery.

If you receive a letter which was not translated, please return it and we will try to get it done for you. The in- country partner may have missed one, expecting or assuming that your child is able to write in English, which many do.

For Guatemala and Nicaragua - Please send your letter by e-mail, if possible, so that we can use computer software to translate it.