As many of you know, I sponsor 7 beautiful girls through the child sponsorship organization Love Lempira. Being a sponsor includes the opportunity to send a gift package to your sponsored child once per year, which will be added to the backpack of school supplies the program provides to them using your monthly sponsorship fees. Sponsors are allowed to send up to a 2.5 gallon sized bag of gifts and supplies to each of their sponsored children. I love joining in with other sponsors to share photos and ideas of what we're sending to our kids each year.
In previous years, I tried to send enough clothing, hygiene items, and other necessities that could fully cover the child’s needs for the year in a dire situation. Between needing to fit all items into a 2.5 gallon bag and changes to my personal finances, I realized this may no longer be a realistic goal. However, while I may not be able to give a child every single thing they’ll need for a year, I can realistically give them everything they need for school for a year. Since education is the main goal of the backpack project, I decided to go heavy on extra educational items beyond what the program provides- then fill any remaining space with a few fun gifts.
For a list of the supplies the program provides with your sponsorship funds, click here. Everything on the “required items” section of the list is what every child will receive from the program. The additional school supplies I chose to send in my kids’ bags were based on things they mentioned needing in previous years. These items include protractors, compasses, highlighters, dry erase markers, regular markers, correction tape, dictionaries, and scientific calculators. I also plan to send construction paper including both colored and plain white; but if this doesn’t fit in the ziplock bags, it will be sent it in the folders with my September letters instead.
To be sure they are well equipped for school, I also made sure my girls each got a pair of blue jeans or leggings, and a shirt in their school’s uniform color. Honduran schools have actual uniforms that can’t be purchased in the US; but I wanted to give them each an outfit in the correct colors, so they’d still match their classmates if they ever don’t have access to the official uniforms. If you want to do this too, please note that children in the BET sector of the program use steel blue shirts for school, while the other areas use white. For my 2 girls who have gym class at school, I also included tennis shoes.
For the extras and fun gifts, I already used up a lot of my favorite ideas on the gifts I gave the girls during my recent visit to Honduras. To see those items for additional ideas, click here. I’ve received good feedback from my girls on clothing, Pop It fidget toys, stuffed animals, watches, books, bible verse coloring books, personalized cosmetic bags, and spa headbands in the past two years. Other sponsors who visited during last year’s distribution also noted children being thrilled with soccer balls/pumps, bibles, and warm socks. I kept these things in mind as I shopped; though I didn’t buy all of these things for every child, because some of my girls have already received similar things on our recent visit or in previous backpacks
Now for each child’s individual gifts:
Katrin (almost 12) enjoys playing outside with friends and doodling in her school notebooks. She loves animals and fun accessories. Her favorite color is purple. Her gifts include: a jump rope, yoyo, Pop It fidget toy, shirt, 2 spiral hair ties, cat ear headband, purple socks, gel pens, guided prayer journal, the book Eloise at the Plaza, Squishmallow plush bag clip, and a squishy Capybara surprise fidget toy. Last year, I sent her photos of me visiting the Plaza Hotel and the Eloise painting there, which is why I chose the Eloise book for her.
Karen Marina (12) is my newest sponsored child who I sponsored after my most recent visit. Her favorite color is yellow and her favorite animal is a butterfly. Her gifts include: a yellow floral shirt, yellow butterfly Squishmallow stuffed animal, yellow butterfly sketch book, butterfly watch, necklace with tiara pendant, headband, bead kit, bible, socks, and a Pop It fidget toy.
Amy (15) likes the color purple. She enjoys many types of art including embroidery, crocheting, painting, coloring, and doodling in her school notebooks. She mentioned clothing as her favorite gift in last year’s backpack. She dreams of becoming an agricultural engineer and especially loves flowers. She is trying to learn English. I already gave her a bunch of art supplies on our recent visit, but wanted to give her just a few more in her backpack. Her gifts include: a purple shirt, diamond dot art set to make floral bookmarks, floral embroidery set, set of pens with purple ink, dual tip stamp markers, floral bible verse coloring book in English (she received a Spanish one last time), 2 purple hair accessories, purple watch, book about different types of flowers, and a Pop It fidget toy.
Adiany (16) has several favorite colors including blue. She loves the ocean and is considering becoming a marine biologist in the future. She mentioned a stuffed animal as one of her favorite gifts in last year’s backpack. When I brought her a few self care items on our recent visit, she loved them and mentioned enjoying skin care products. Her gifts include: a dolphin stuffed animal, dual tip marker set, book about marine biology, Pura Vida ocean wave bracelet, sea turtle anklet, Pop It fidget toy, sea turtle tshirt, cosmetic bag with seashell design, 3 ocean-themed sheet masks, sunscreen moisturizer, and a Bubble brand lip balm.
Ashley Paola (almost 18) likes the color purple. She enjoys reading. She mentioned a poetry book being one of her favorite gifts in last year’s backpack. She is studying tourism and hotel management in school; but I already gave her gifts related to that on our recent visit, so her backpack will be focused around reading. Her gifts include: a poetry book by her favorite author, the book Redeeming Love (only recommended for ages 18+), a diamond dot art set to make bookmarks, leather heart corner bookmark with her initial on it, set of purple magnetic bookmarks, purple book light, Pop It fidget notepad, and a set of pens with purple ink.
Hiliany (18) likes the color red and enjoys playing soccer. She recently mentioned needing new soccer cleats because she plays at school. She is learning to do acrylic nails and dreams of owning a nail salon in the future. I’ve already given her a bigger set of supplies for acrylic nails, which is why she has just a few this time. Her gifts include: red and black soccer cleats, the book Redeeming Love (only recommended for ages 18+), a red Pop It fidget toy, watch, black claw hair clip, black heart necklace, pencil bag with her initial on the front, nail files and buffers, and a set of 2 nail polish with thin brushes for drawing details.
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