Noah Kruis
I grew up in Gallup, NM, attended Rehoboth Christian K-12, then moved to Grand Rapids to attend Calvin. I've been here ever since. I'm the husband of but one wife, and the father of three great kids. My wife and I share a job in the Service-Learning Center at Calvin College, and we also share the job of caring for our children. We're active members at Creston CRC on the near Northeast side of town, where I also serve as the Adminstrative Coordinator.
Posted in: Benevolence Fund Policy
This document refers to "written benevolence procedures," but they are not included in the post. Would it be possible to post those as well?
Thanks,
Noah Kruis, Administrative Coordinator
Creston Church
Posted in: Your Feedback = Chance to Win
I really like how you can subscribe (once again) to individual topics, because the overall summary email was just too overwhelming. Thanks for brining that back.
The search features are also quite helpful.
Noah Kruis
Posted in: Discussion Starter: Child Sponsorship
I was struck by this reality when visiting a sponsorship organization's school in Kibera back in 2002. Not only did it strike me as tragic that only one family member could attend the school, but it was heartbreaking to hear the children go around the room reciting their thanks to (relatively) wealthy North American Christians by name. The resulting sense of dependence on the support of sponsors could only serve to limit the child's self-confidence and complicate their relationship to their parents.
It was also difficult to see the meeting of one of these children with one of my North American traveling companions who happened to be the child's sponsor. My companion brought a slew of gifts: coloring books, stickers, small toys, etc. I could sense that this encounter not only reinforced that sense of limited self-worth and reliance, while also cultivating resentment among other children who had not been visited by their sponsors.
Lastly, I've read that the overhead costs of child sponsorship that involves direct contact between sponsor and student are enormous, especially when translation is involved. These costs come out of the monthly sponsorship donation, along with costs for promotional material and other administrative costs, resulting in an astonishingly small percentage of the actual donation going towards the student's educational needs.
I'm glad that CRWRC works towards supporting entire families, and wonder if there shouldn't be more education denomination-wide about the unseen costs of child sponsorship.