PENDLETON – A lecture at a local church more than a dozen years ago prompted a Pendleton man to sign up to sponsor a child in Guatemala.

Lowell Spiess now sends money monthly to support six children from Central America who refer to him as their “Godfather.” He has plans to sponsor more children in the future.

“You pick a country and they go around to the areas of that country that are the most needy,” Spiess said. “I want to get a child in Africa and one in India,”

Spiess has sent $20 per month for each child through the Christian Foundation for Children and Aging for more than a decade. He said he chose the Kansas City-based Catholic charity group because 85 percent of the money donated goes directly to the children and their families.

He also regularly receives mail from each child and tries to send them letters and small presents whenever possible. But his involvement with his “God-children” has not stopped there. He has been able to visit five of the six children he sponsors in their homelands, thanks to an inexpensive tour arranged by the CFCA.

Spiess is no stranger to travel. A world map prominently displayed on his wall is crisscrossed with red lines designating trips he has taken. But during the CFCA trips, the sponsors are able to see the local countryside from a decidedly different view, often being housed in a church or school.

“One trip to El Salvador they put us up in a convent,” Spiess said. “It was so nice to hear all the singing as the nuns were in prayer.”

The trips are generally for 10 days, and during that time the visitors are taken around many of the tiny villages by boat or car. The sponsor and sponsored child are united for a day-long visit, which involves the child’s family as well.

“They make arrangements to bring the sponsored child in,” Spiess said. “Andreas (his first sponsored child) lived an hour and a half away, but they brought him and his family in.”

Now a veteran of three of the trips, Spiess has developed an efficient way of getting clothes and other hard-to-get items to the children and their families.

“I get a couple of old suitcases and when I go down. I fill them with clothes, toothpaste and other things. Then I just leave the suitcase.”

It was during one of the trips to visit a sponsor child that a tiny girl holding a white rabbit caught Spiess’ eye.

“I told the leader, ‘I want to go ahead and sponsor her,'” Spiess said.

Little Lorena Beatriz Campos now numbers among the children who call Spiess “Godfather.” She is just one of the more than 249,300 children or elderly people the association has connected with a sponsor as of Feb. 1.

How to help

For more information about the Christian Foundation for Children and Aging, access the group’s Web site at www.cfcausa.org or call 800-875-6564.