The Hastings Family

Hello everyone. You didn't think we could have our blog too long without sharing about the needs of the ministry, did you? Some of you have already heard about this but many of you are unaware of this particular need.
As you know, all of the 7,000+ children in our schools and childcare centers have individual sponsors from around the world. Some of you are faithful sponsors. One of the difficulties that comes up from time to time is when sponsors have to discontinue their support. We always understand that there are many different circumstances that can cause this and we understand that sometimes this is necessary. For younger children, we simply produce a new biography form and AMG's office in the US finds us another sponsor. Unfortunately, when children reach a certain age, it becomes very difficult to find sponsors. This age is around 12. Understandably, many people would like to sponsor a younger child as the opportunity exists to have a long term relationship with their child.
Our dilemma - These past few years, the number of older children in our projects who have lost their sponsors has grown. We currently have about 80 children who are 12 or over that are without sponsors. We keep them in the program but don't have sponsorship funds coming in for them. This causes financial strain on our budget and the individual projects.
The need - We are in need of sponsors for these older children. The cost is a little different for these students, $35 a month instead of the normal $25, as a "scholarship" is also part of their support. For children in Jr. and Sr. High, we give the family a small amount of money in order to offset some of the expenses that come along with their educational needs. Also, it is tempting for families to remove their children from school at this age so they can work and contribute to the family income. The scholarship helps as an incentive for parents to allow their children to continue with their schooling.
The photo above is an example of one of the children that is in need of a new sponsor. His name is Edvin, he is 12 years old and he lives in the small rural town of Oratorio, about an hour and a half outside of Guatemala City. Edvin's father died several years ago. His mother works very hard in order to support the family but her income is too low to provide what they need. Edvin and his family (3 brothers and 3 sisters) live in a small adobe house with tin roofing and a dirt floor.
If you, or anyone you know, would like to sponsor Edvin or one of these older children you can send us an email (bobh@amginternational.org or bobhast@gmail.com) and we'd be happy to answer any of your questions or get you started with the child sponsorship program.
Please pray with us that the Lord would provide the necessary sponsors and funds to help us to continue to help children like Edvin.