Writing a Letter to Your Sponsored Child: When will they receive my letter?
Now that you have written your letter, you have already put it in the mail or sent it online via email or by logging into your account. One of the most common questions we get asked is, “When will the child receive my letter?”
At BrightPoint for Children, we help all of our partners with their letter writing process. We organize all the sponsor letters that come in and we mail the child letters to their sponsors. The outpouring of love that we see go into the letters the sponsors write is important to us, and we want to make sure that the children receive those letters.
Where does my letter go?
The letters get sent to our office where we take the time to look over them to make sure no personal information is shared. Then, we organize the letters by partner and get them ready to send out. One thing that stands out with our partners is how every letter is hand delivered to the children. We do not scan the sponsors’ letters and send them to the staff in the country. Instead, the original letter you took the time to write or the drawing your child created gets hand delivered to your sponsored child! We schedule the letters to go with a team who is visiting the country and to the different programs. There, they give the letters to a staff member and then they get the letters ready to give to the children.
How long does it take to deliver the letters?
Since we do hand deliver all of the sponsor letters, it does depend when there is a team visiting. There are different trips that go throughout the year or staff members who are traveling, so your letters will reach your child. Once we know when a trip is planned, we will send out an email to all the sponsors letting them know the dates and when to have a letter sent to us by. That way, your child will receive the most updated letter from you!
Once the letters are delivered in the country, some of them have to be translated. Depending how many letters they receive, it can take some time for the translators to translate every letter. This process may also take some time before it is given to your child. One of the ways to help this process is to make sure you’re keeping in mind the length of your letter. The longer the letter, the longer it will take a translator to translate.
Here are some of the most common questions we get asked, answered!
Q: If I send you an email with my letter, will my child receive it faster?
A: Since we hand deliver all of the letters, when you email us your letter we print it out and organize them with the others. The letter will still get delivered the same way, so it will not get to your child faster, but we will receive it faster.
Q: Why can’t I email my child directly so they receive my letters faster?
A: The main reason we hand deliver all of the letters is because a lot of our partners do not have Wi-Fi to be able to receive any electronic correspondence. It can be very expensive for the staff to maintain also.
Q: My child’s birthday is coming up and I want to send them a birthday card, when should I send that?
A: I would send the birthday card a couple of months in advanced. That way, when a team is visiting, your child will hopefully receive your birthday card before their birthday! Either way, even if they receive it after, the children love to hear from you and are thankful that you thought of them on their birthday!
How long will it take to receive a letter back?
This will be answered in our next blog in our letter writing series, so make sure you stay tuned!