The Ostrander family, Rex, Bonnie and their daughter, Alexis, members of St. Matthew Parish in Spotsylvania, recently had the joy of visiting three children in Guatemala whom they sponsor through the CFCA (Christian Foundation for Children and Aging).

"It was a wonderful experience of seeing God’s work," said Bonnie of the CFCA Mission Awareness Trip. "I’m now more convinced than ever that the (sponsorship) money goes to help the children."

About five years ago, after reading about the CFCA in the HERALD, Rex began sponsoring Rodolfo, who is now nearly 17. Lately the Ostranders also started sponsoring his half-brother, Luis, 3, as well as Michelle, 3, who is the daughter of Lucy, Rodolfo’s teacher and bi-lingual CFCA interpreter. The recent eight-day CFCA organized trip was the second one for Rex.

In a December letter to Rex, Rodolfo wrote, "I send you loving greetings from myself and my family ... Godfather, I am very happy because soon I will see you again and I will know your wife and daughter, too. I think that this month is special and full of surprises because we celebrate the birth of our Lord Jesus. Thank you again for all the special help for me and I show gratitude to our God for (it) and (the) love that you share with me. I send to you and your dear family hugs and kisses. Fondly your godson, Rodolfo."

CFCA, a Catholic organization, was founded more than 20 years ago by former Christian Brother Bob Hentzen, and his brothers Jim and Bud, and their friend, former Jesuit Father Jerry Tolle. Both Bob and Jerry had been missionaries in Central and South America. "I wanted to help the children and they ended up helping me," Hentzen said of his mission work.

Headquartered in Kansas City, the foundation works primarily with Catholic missionaries in 25 countries. Throughout the world, there are 108 projects, with a total of 2,400 sub-projects. CFCA publicizes their programs at weekend Masses and through Catholic periodicals.

For $20 a month, an amount that has not risen in approximately 10 years, an individual may sponsor a child or elderly person. The monetary donations help provide food, clothing, education and other basics. As of Dec. 1, 2001, there were 223,754 children and elderly persons sponsored through CFCA, with 24,987 awaiting sponsorship.

Bill Cordero, CFCA’s director of marketing and communications, said the foundation sends $115,000 overseas each day to their projects, 365 days a year. He said the organization is very proud that 85 percent of all sponsorship funds goes directly to the sponsorees. "So little can do so much," he said, crediting "creative missionaries" with making the money go a long way.

In 1996, the year of Hentzen’s 60th birthday, he walked 4,000 miles, from Kansas City to Guatemala to raise worldwide awareness of the plight of the poor. He now lives in Guatemala with his wife at the CFCA complex where sponsors stay during visits. "They take very good care of you," said Bonnie. She said that guests may help sort the mail from sponsors or work in the garden.

Upon arrival in Guatemala, the Ostranders had a four-hour van ride from the airport to the CFCA complex at Patzun in the mountains. When they arrived at the village, a crowd of mostly children warmly welcomed them, sending up balloons in celebration. They also put on a parade for their visitors and performed a skit. The natives’ joy at the sponsors’ presence "brought tears to our eyes," Bonnie said.

The Guatemalan location which the Ostranders visited is part of CFCA’s Hermano Pedro project, said Cordero. Concentrated in Central and Latin America, it is the foundation’s largest project in the world. Some 70,000 children and aged are sponsored in Guatemala. CFCA’s fastest growing program area is in Africa, where 6,000 people are sponsored, and 6,000 are sponsored in India.

Bonnie said that rather than bring Guatemalans to another country, CFCA’s goal is for them to remain in their native land so that they can preserve their culture, and through the education they receive, improve their lives. Rodolfo wants to become an electrician or a professional soccer player.

The Ostranders sometimes send additional money for a special need, such as when Rex found out that Rodolfo needed a manual typewriter for his school work. Also, in Rodolfo’s household there were not enough bedrooms for all the family members to sleep comfortably because it was a small dwelling. He lives with his father, step-mother, half-brother and grandmother. The Ostranders donated the needed $600 to add another room to the house.

The homes they visited were built up against a mountain on land that is nearly vertical. The floor is dirt, there are spaces between the boards that are the outside walls, and gaps between the walls and floor, where chickens can come in. Rex, a professional surveyor with his own business in Virginia, hopes to return to the village and help measure the land in the only possible manner, with an old-fashioned chain system.

Bonnie said there were numerous children in the village, even among those who are living in severe poverty. She was told that it was because of the absence of any senior citizen annuity programs or Social Security. Parents must depend on younger family members to support them in their later years. She said the journey to Guatemala was a trip of perspective for her family members. Seventeen-year-old Alexis is "very fired up about continuing her Spanish" beyond the three years she has had in school, she said.

"It’s really an education for your children to see," said Bonnie. "I had a complete change of attitude." She said one example is becoming much less concerned with material possessions. "We also saw beautiful cathedrals, met wonderful people and built relationships there," she said. One example is their acquaintance with a nurse from the United States who goes to Guatemala for three months at a time to volunteer. The Ostranders are willing to give talks and show pictures of their CFCA experience to local parishes and organizations, they said.

While in Guatemala the Ostranders saw a school being built in San Lucas Toliman from a memorial fund in honor of a student, Daniel Mauser, 15, killed at Columbine High School in Colorado. The youth’s family, parents Tom and Linda and sister, Christie, had been longtime CFCA sponsors.

Through CFCA, the Mausers found out that there was no school in the hometown of the child whom they sponsor, they initially raised the needed $31,000, and over a period of time, $80,000 came in. When they went to visit the site, they discovered that a library was being constructed also, and were very touched because it was the room in which their son had been killed at Columbine.

In addition to sponsor funds, other CFCA money goes to support clinics, an elderly center and assist abandoned and severely mentally and physically handicapped children, said Bonnie. CFCA also has a religious vocations sponsorship program and a higher education scholarship fund for needy students.

Bonnie said that while staying at the CFCA complex she assisted with the mail from sponsors. She reiterated the foundation’s recommendation that letter writers do not put their return address on the envelope for security reasons because it must be blacked out before delivery to their sponsored person(s).

The Christian Foundation for Children and Aging can be contacted at One Elmwood Ave., Kansas City, KS, 66103; phone 1-800/875-6564; write mail@cfcausa.org or go to www.cfcausa.org.