Jane McMahon is a volunteer and child sponsor with Beyond the Orphanage (BTO). Together with her family, husband Terry and two kids, they sponsor a young girl in Ethiopia through the child sponsorship program.
Jane answered a couple of questions about how she found BTO and why she chose to get involved:
I wanted to do some volunteer work and I spoke to my husband Terry about it. He knew Geoff Hucker CEO, BTO through his work as a pilot and so he recommended BTO.
My volunteer activities mainly focus on data entry, responding to enquiries for information about BTO. As a volunteer I saw the great work BTO do at the grassroots level and I wanted to do something more to help. Becoming a donor was a natural progression.
Being a donor with BTO is great because as a small organisation, run in large part by volunteers you know the money really does get to where it is needed. Personally, it is great to know that even being so far away you can help to make a difference. From a practical point of view being a donor is so easy, you can just sign-up online and updates come automatically.
In our case, we chose to support BTO through child sponsorship. By sponsoring a child, we know that one young girl will benefit greatly in her education and wellbeing and in turn enrich her whole community.
It has been a great thing to do as a family. Living in Australia we are extremely fortunate and often we forget how lucky we are and take things for granted. Sponsorship helps to keep our family mindful of this and it sets a good example to our children that it’s important to do what you can for those in need. It is great to receive lovely letters from our sponsored child and also the BTO blog full of uplifting information and stories.
Often as one person or a small group of likeminded people, the thought of trying to help out with some of the challenges and problems the world faces is overwhelming. Like me you might find it hard to know where to begin, Beyond the Orphanage is a great place to start. Even by donating a small amount the ripple on effect of this has far reaching benefits for the BTO kids and their communities. I would encourage anyone to be involved and support Beyond the Orphanage.”
If you would like to contact BTO about volunteer opportunities or child sponsorship.
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