Compassion Family: Reorganizing Our Letters

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Reorganizing Our Letters

I spent some time this past weekend, reorganizing the letters we receive from our sponsored children. I’ve always kept our letters in binders and wrote about my previous method HERE.
I’ve been wanting to organize more by country and region and that’s what I set off to do this time.

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Previously I had 3 large binders, but they were getting quite full (such a good problem). Since I can’t imagine throwing these letters away, I had to expand my collection of binders. I love having photos on the sides so I can easily find which binder I’m looking for.
Like I said before, I arranged them by country / continent / region. I love the binders that have the plastic sleeve you can slip papers into. My hope is that these binders become more than a storage place for letters. I want my kids to be able to open these up and know about the country and area where our child lives. I will continue to personalize these, but for here are some examples of what I have done.

AFRICA

(acacia tree painting courtesy of Michelle)

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THAILAND

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PERU (LDP correspondent)

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INDIA

(we have 5 children in India, plus CSP so I have 2 large India binders)

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HONDURAS

(a photographer friend recently went to Honduras and gave me this photo)

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There are others ~ South America, Central America, Dominican Republic ~ you get the idea.

Inside each binder I keep letters, photos and country information from each child.

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I’m sure this won’t be the last time I re-organize my system of keeping letters, but I’m excited to have this project done. I even made 2 binders for the letters from children we no longer sponsor.
Do you keep letters from your sponsored children? If so, how do you organize them?
I'm linking up to Works for Me Wednesday at We are THAT Family.

Comments (13)

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Teena · 705 weeks ago

Love the way you organized! I keep every letter! I have mine like you do but in smaller binders.

I like the pic on the side thing!

Hugs

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Teena · 705 weeks ago

We keep waiting for letters! Its been several months since hearing from them. Alyssa runs to the mail box every day! We have a rule that if something that says. "Compassion" on it comes we can't open it til we are all together! She called me the other day when I was in town saying "mom, soothing came from CI....." I told het to wait! It was the Isaiah 58.

I haven't heard from my correspondent Betlhem in a long time. She is older and we have sent her several letters... on the 16th we used the new online way and sent 3 pics!

Have a great day, Jill.

Much love

4 replies · active 705 weeks ago

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jd0canada 54p · 705 weeks ago

I can't imagine going months without hearing from them, although there are a few of ours we don't hear from often at all (Indonesia & Kenya). We typically get something every two weeks.

I'd love to see Compassion material for Isaiah 58 come in the mail!!

Our rule at home is that the minute the kids get home from school, they need to call me to let me know if there was anything Compassion related in the mail.

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Jill Foley · 705 weeks ago

I love the "rules" you both have regarding mail from Compassion!

A friend of mine is traveling for a year and won't be getting her mail until Christmas - then not again until next June. One of her biggest concerns was having to wait to read her letters from her Compassion kids.

If we have to wait a few months to hear from certain kids, imagine how the kids who never hear from their sponsors feel....puts it into a new perspective, doesn't it?

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jd0canada 54p · 705 weeks ago

Jill, will your friend have access to email while she's away? �If so, can someone volunteer to scan & email the letters received, and will she be able to continue to write to them via the internet? �

Yes -- there are children who have never received letters... �I will never forget sitting down with Wilson in Honduras on our very first day there, and listening to the broken sound of his heart as he shared how it felt to never, in all his 9 years of sponsorship, receive one single word from his sponsor.

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fiddlejill 88p · 705 weeks ago

The story of Wilson is heartbreaking, yet it's probably all too common. There seems to be a "movement" among sponsors and advocates to promote letter writing and that's good.

The last time I talked with my friend about the no mail situation, she was planning on having her in laws read the letters to her over the phone. She just told me they are meeting them in a couple weeks, so hopefully they will bring the mail with them (I had forgotten about that when I commented earlier). And yes...she is still writing monthly. She's good like that. She was excited to hear about the new on line letter writing tool.

Matthew 25:31-46
Don't be a goat! Sponsor a child today.
<a href="http://www.compassion.com/jillfoley
www.compassion.com/jillfoley<br />
---

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jd0canada 54p · 705 weeks ago

We still use the same system as we did in this post http://compassioncan.blogspot.com/2011/03/letters... we just added two more binders, and three children.

Love the photos on the binder edges and on the front! If you need a pic for the back of the Honduras binder, let me know!

2 replies · active 705 weeks ago

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Jill Foley · 705 weeks ago

Yes...you were part of my inspiration for reorganizing. I would love to have a binder for each child, but 19 binders is a lot of binders! I actually do have another photo from the same photographer friend who went to Honduras on the back, but thanks for the offer. My goal is to have a photo of me and each child - together - on each binder!

Maybe after your trip to Ghana, you can send me a photo : )

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jd0canada 54p · 705 weeks ago

Would LOVE to send you a photo after the trip to Ghana!! �

Yes, 19 is a lot of binders! �We have 13 kids, and a total of 7 zippered binders so far. �Ato Sam's binder just surpassed Bessy's in size, and we've been sponsoring her since 2005! �Crazy!

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sharon · 705 weeks ago

I keep my letters and things in a 12x12 scrapbook. I like it because it is a good fit for A4 paper.

1 reply · active 705 weeks ago

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Jill Foley · 705 weeks ago

I feel like you are speaking a different language : ) I would love to see pics of how you organize it.

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sharon · 705 weeks ago

Lol... I don't have a blog, or I'd show you! As far as how it's organized, it looks pretty similar to what you have. The scrapbook has clear plastic sleeves that the letters slip into. Since the scrapbook dimensions are 12x12 inches, the A4 sized paper that my kids from Africa and India write on doesn't stick out the top of the plastic sleeve, like it might if it was in a binder. (A4 paper is longer than the standard 8 1/2 x 11 paper that we use here in the US).. Hopefully that makes sense, that's about as good a description as i can give..............

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Maria · 705 weeks ago

Love, Love, Love this! I have a few ways I organize. I have all my letters from my kids in separate folders because I can't find a binder that will hold the size letters that they come on (always sticks out). I have all other info (welcome packet into, country newsletters, picture updates) in a 2" thick binder. All pictures are kept in a scrapbook devoted to my Compassion kids. As a teacher, I love all the different ways we come up to organize.

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Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Reorganizing Our Letters

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