COAR Sponsor Frequently Asked Questions

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Sponsor's Frequently Asked Questions

The quick answer - click on each for more

• What are my child’s circumstances? We will tell you.
• You will receive a letter and picture twice a year, in the spring and fall.
• If your child leaves COAR
• What if I want to contact my sponsored child?

o Send letters and pictures to our Cleveland office.
o Write in English.
o Don’t send gifts.
o Look for return letters from El Salvador in English
o Can I visit my child? Absolutely!
o Can I e-mail my child? Yes, through the Cleveland office.

• What does sponsorship cost?

o Give a Child a Home (for the live-in children, interños) $25/month or $300/year
o Give a Child a Chance (for scholarships, becados) $15/month or $180/year

•Where does it go? All of it goes to educate, clothe, feed, and house the children.
•What about birthdays and Christmas? It varies . . .
• Does COAR bill me for sponsorship? Not exactly, these are your options . . .
• Where do I send payment? Payable to "COAR", COAR Peace Mission, 4395 Rocky River Drive, Cleveland, OH 44135

Detailed Responses to Frequently Asked Questions :

• What are my child’s circumstances? Sponsored children can be either full-scholarship day students, becados, who return each night to their families or foster care children, internos, who cannot live with their families. We give priority to assigning the internos. They tend to be more disadvantaged, are the most expensive to care for, and benefit especially from contact with sponsors. To protect their privacy we no longer supply a brief background of the child’s circumstances. We hope that knowing your child through letters and pictures will supply that intimacy, instead.

• You will receive a letter and picture twice a year, in the spring and fall.

• If your child leaves COAR (as about 10% a year do) we will automatically assign you a new child and ask that you take the new child into your heart.

• What if I want to contact my sponsored child?

o Send letters and pictures to our Cleveland office. We encourage you to correspond with your child. They love news of your family, hobbies, interests, and friends. COAR will never give you a child’s home address or encourage you to contact them outside of the COAR office. Letters are sent to the Children’s Village from the Cleveland office:

January 15
March 1
April 1
June 1
July 1
August 1
October 1

Notice the Christmas gap: the children are home visiting family and will get your letters when they return in January.

o Write in English. When the letters arrive at the COAR office, volunteers help to translate and organize the letters before sending them to the Children’s Village. (And we are always looking for volunteers!)

o Don’t send gifts. We discourage gifts of any real value or gifts that cannot fit in a large envelope because they are difficult and expensive to send to El Salvador . They can also create an awkward situation among children who receive gifts and those who don't, and it can give a material focus to the sponsor-child relationship that we hope to avoid.

o Look for return letters from El Salvador in English. Several high schools and individual volunteers translate the letters into English (and we are always looking for more!)

o Can I visit my child? Absolutely! COAR welcomes visitors. We give sponsorship priority to children who live at COAR. One reason we do this is because if you do wish to visit the child, we are much more likely to know where the child will be when you visit! Please let the Cleveland office know when you plan to visit so that we can make sure the child is in school or residence that day. Also keep in mind that the Salvadoran school year begins in late January and ends at the end of October.

o Can I e-mail my child? Yes, through the Cleveland office. E-mails to your child can be sent through our office at coarsponsors@sbcglobal.net. We handle these like letters received through regular mail.

• What does sponsorship cost?

o Give a Child a Home (for the live-in children, internos) $25/month or $300/year - The full cost to house, clothe, feed, and educate the internos currently averages $3,000 per year.
o Give a Child a Chance (for scholarships, becados) $15/month or $180/year - The full cost to run the school varies with enrollment, the grade the child is in, the number of teachers employed, and teacher salaries. It currently averages $250 per year to educate each child.

• Where does it go? All of it goes to educate, clothe, feed, and house the children. To bring the cost of caring for a child to a reasonable level for most people, we suggest a share of the cost at the monthly or annual rate shown, above. However, regardless of how much or how little you are able to donate, your donation is put into a fund that pays salaries for housemothers and teachers and pays for supplies for the children receiving tuition assistance or live-in care. This is the essence of the Children’s Village, to care for disadvantaged children, and your sponsorship funds the core of that mission.

• What about birthdays and Christmas? It varies . . . All children that live at COAR receive appropriate birthday and Christmas presents chosen by the staff, regardless of their sponsorship situation. If a sponsor sends an extra donation at Christmas or for a birthday, the staff notifies the child appropriately and usually adds an extra gift from the sponsor. Some sponsors send small gifts such as a package of stickers or a coloring book, a gift that can be shared. Because of the individual nature of each child’s circumstances, there is no regular gift-giving policy with your donation. However, your child will always know that his or her sponsor made a special effort at these times.

• Does COAR bill me for sponsorship? Not exactly, we do this:

•	Enclosed with every mailing is a sheet explaining various payment options, including a recurring credit card option (click)
•	We can “remind” you to renew an annual or semi-annual payment, use the enclosed form, or just write the month that you want to be reminded on your check (or e-mail us)
•	Calendar: Every donor gets a yearly calendar of tear-off envelopes to use
•	Each semi-annual letter (spring and fall) comes with a payment record so you can see where you stand if you have lost track

• Where do I send payment? Payable to "COAR", COAR Peace Mission, 4395 Rocky River Drive, Cleveland, OH 44135 We collect all donations for the Children's Village, sponsorship and otherwise, and transfer regular monthly payments. All gifts are fully tax-deductible.

• What if I have more questions? If you have any further questions, please let our office know and we will be happy to answer them for you.