Sponsor Spotlight: Wendy from Oklahoma

Sponsor Spotlight: Wendy from Oklahoma

Every sponsor has a reason to give. Wendy’s reason is based on her family and her faith. 

Wendy lives in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and has been a sponsor with ChildFund for sixteen years. She can still remember the day she signed up to sponsor.  

“My kids were 4 and 7 years old and we had just finished opening Christmas presents,” Wendy says. “My 4-year-old said, ‘Is that all?’ and I knew we had to get a better perspective of what the world lived like.” 

Wendy, her husband Jamie, and her two kids Lydia and Griffin participated in the sponsorships as a family when the kids were young – writing to them together and sending gifts. “We prayed for them every night,” Wendy says. “It was awesome.” 

Wendy (center) with her son-in-law, Coreon, her daughter, Lydia, her husband, Jamie, and her son, Griffin.

These days, Wendy is retired and sponsors eight kids from all three of the regions where we work. She most recently connected with Mary, from Zambia. The sponsorship could not have come at a better time. Mary’s mom used to weave and sell doormats to neighbors, but COVID-19 restrictions have now made it impossible for her to earn an income this way. Every day is a struggle for survival, and it’s hard for Mary’s mom to get the food and support her daughter needs.

  

Three-year-old Mary, from Zambia, is Wendy's newest sponsored child.

“It breaks my heart to hear about the way my [sponsored] kids live,” Wendy says. But she harnesses that heartbreak and turns it into action through sponsorship. 

“I wish everyone could have the joy of sponsoring a child. It is so rewarding for me," she says. "I love having them in my life.”   

Every sponsor has a reason. If you’ve found yours, connect with a child in need today.