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| MEDICAL SPONSORS |
EDUCATION SPONSORS
"HALF" SPONSORS AND GENDER/AGE PREFERENCES |
QUESTIONS
Because of the unique nature of its assistance, StandProud can offer donors a more "direct" sponsorship relationship than many other organizations.
In the StandProud program, all funds contributed by sponsors go toward costs related to assisting specific disabled children and youth (though due to accounting limitations, donations and individual beneficiary expenses are not tracked separately and matched exactly).
StandProud sponsorship donations are NOT re-directed away from the sponsored children toward general "community benefit" development projects in the town where the child lives (as occurs with most other charities offering child sponsorships).
In organizing the sponsorship, the organization commits to financing the services described for the specific sponsored child (or to notifying the sponsor if for some reason this is no longer possible and proposing an alternative child).
(The amounts cited below are averages based on prior experience, and include administrative costs. In cases where the contributions of the sponsor are less than the costs, the organization will use other funds [including those of sponsors whose contributions have exceeded costs] to make up the difference.)
Donors making large contributions ($400 or more) may request that StandProud prioritize the rehabilitation of a single child and receive information about the child along with pictures and a letter. (For smaller contributions, see "How you can help".
Such a medical "sponsorship" will provide the following to the individual child:
- A pre-bracing stay at StandProud-sponsored rehabilitation home (anywhere from 3 days to 2 months) if necessary;
- Appropriate equipment and medical treatment (braces, and also for many, plaster casting, or surgery followed by plaster casting) in accordance with StandProud standards;
- A post-treatment stay (anywhere from 1 day to 9 months) at the rehabilitation home, for physical therapy and for learning to walk with the new equipment; and
- Three months´ "kick off" school fees (for school-age beneficiaries) promoting societal integration of disabled persons by "mainstreaming" the child at a regular, neighborhood school.
Typically, a donation of:
- $400 will cover the costs of a child who requires just two full-length leg braces
- $700 will cover the costs of a child who requires surgery and bracing for an ankle problem (including "club foot" and feet deformed as a result of paralysis)
- $900 will cover the costs of a child who requires surgery, bracing and rehabilitation for one badly damaged leg
- $1900 will cover the costs of a child who requires surgery, bracing and rehabilitation for two badly damaged legs (for a person who has not been able to stand or walk for many years and currently moves about only by crawling on all fours).
To become a medical sponsor,
- Click on the "How to help/donate" button at the top of the page
- Add the words "medical sponsorship" on your check or in the "designation" area of the credit card payment form.
Medical sponsors: Please note that if you are interested in supporting the continuing education costs of the child for whom you are the Medical Sponsor, you can choose to become also his/her "Education Sponsor". For more details on Education Sponsors, please see the section below.
Back to TopAs detailed in the "EDUCATION" page of this website, StandProud believes that it is particularly important that physically disabled children be given an opportunity to obtain an education, and that they be "mainstreamed" into the same schools as non-disabled children. Both by creating a class of educated disabled persons, and by giving many non-disabled youth exposure to disability at an early age through the sharing of classrooms, StandProud's education support program works to bring down damaging stereotypes about disability still widespread in the society.
Unfortunately, poverty in DR Congo has worsened to the level at which many parents cannot afford to pay school fees for all of their children. Often a disabled child will have lowest priority for school attendance when a family's resources are limited.
To ensure that disabled youth do not get excluded from educational opportunity during this period of extreme financial crisis in DR Congo, StandProud has established a long-term education support program in which donors' contributions cover school fees for disabled children while they are in primary and secondary school.
The program has two options corresponding to the two different types of students that StandProud supports.
- $0.70 per day ($20/month, $240/year) covers the enrollment and tuition costs (paid directly to the school) for one Non-Boarding student for one year.
"Non-Boarding" students live at home with their families after their treatment is complete and attend local schools.
- $1.00 per day ($30/month, $360/year) covers the enrollment and tuition costs for one Boarding student for one year, plus food, school uniforms, books, miscellaneous school supplies, lodging at the rehabilitation home, and general medical care for 10 months out of the year.
"Boarding students" are long-term residents at the rehabilitation home who return to their homes during school vacation periods only. These are generally children with special needs or those who assist the staff with the rehabilitation of new beneficiaries.
Education sponsors will receive a description of the child and his/her family, as well an annual picture of the child and letter from the child him/herself.
To become an Education Sponsor
- Click on the "How to help/donate" button at the top of the pageBack to Top
- Add the words "educational sponsorship" on your check or in the "designation" area of the credit card payment form.
(Note: If a credit/debit card is used (via the Donate Now button), donations can be set up to occur automatically on a monthly, quarterly or annual basis.)
- Donors' gender and age preferences for a sponsored child, if such are specified, will be respected to the extent possible given the pool of candidate beneficiaries at the moment the donation arrives. Funds will, however, not be "held" until there is a gender/age match.
Please address any questions regarding the medical and education sponsorship programs to: info@standproud.org.
Restriction on "special gifts"
Since many StandProud beneficiaries are in frequent contact with each other, and since imbalances in assistance levels can cause hurt feelings, StandProud must keep benefits roughly equal. StandProud thus cannot accept to handle special gifts sponsors may wish to provide to a beneficiary, such as additional "pocket" money, clothes, toys, etc. For this same reason, in-person visits are also not encouraged. StandProud will, however, facilitate a supervised meeting of sponsor and child if informed sufficiently ahead of time and if all travel costs are covered by the sponsor.