Charity seeks sponsors for children

There are 269 people in Yorkton who are already doing it. Their monthly contributions of about a dollar per day are helping 330 children in the Third World go to school, have adequate nutrition and clean water and receive medical care.

Yorkton's Beth Berg got into sponsoring a child through World Vision for the simplest of reasons.

"It's just one person helping one person, I guess," she said.

Berg first became aware of World Vision 30 years ago in Springside where she and her husband took part in a 30-hour famine event sponsored by the organization. Over the years, she thought about signing up but didn't get around to it until 2008.

"A couple of guys came around to the house and they had pictures of children, so I picked one," she said.

That child is Dhayaharan Thangavel, then a nine-year-old Sri Lankan boy.

At least once a year she gets a letter, some artwork and new pictures of Dhayaharan and she always sends him a package of things such as school supplies and art materials.

She said she gets a lot of "personal satisfaction out of helping someone who probably wouldn't be able to go to school otherwise."

Berg has also been satisfied with the performance of the organization. She said she researched them and found they had quite a good rating as a charity.

Three popular charity rating organizations appear to bear that out.

Charity Intelligence Canada gives World Vision Canada a B grade. Money Sense magazine ranks the organization with a B+ for fundraising efficiency and an A+ for governance. The Better Business Bureau says World Vision Canada meets all of its 20 standards for charity accountability.

World Vision Canada is a $400 million per year charity. It generally spends more than 80 per cent of its total expenses on programs, approximately 14 per cent on fundraising and a little better than five per cent on administration.

Last week, the organization kicked off its Saskatchewan Campaign for Children.

"The goal of the Saskatchewan Campaign for Children is to recognize the generosity of Saskatchewan residents and to inspire 1,500 more to sponsor children in developing countries by the end of the campaign on November 30," said Solange Nicholson, a media spokesperson.

"I would encourage people to think about doing this because it's a good organization," Berg said.