Through our partnership with Bernard Kabaru of LEFTI and local churches in Kenya, we are helping expand an existing program that provides physical, academic, and relational support to children in need within each church’s local community. OVC personnel work closely with local pastors to identify children based on several factors, one of the most important being the family’s willingness to be actively engaged in their local church. Through regular visits, interviews, and assessments, OVC personnel monitor the child’s growth and progress.
OVC Kenya is a long-term discipleship program. The goal is for each child to be supported upon enrollment in elementary school until the completion of college.
Unfortunately, rare circumstances may require a child to be exited from the OVC program. Such conditions include: distant relocation of family, improvement of a family’s financial situation, inconsistent school and/or church attendance, or inappropriate lifestyle choices.
If you would like to become an advocate, please indicate your interest using the link below. You will be contacted with available partnership possibilities.
Your commitment to support a child is both relational and financial. To ensure that you and your sponsored child experience the full benefits of this program, we encourage you to commit to walking alongside them throughout their educational journey. Your consistent care, encouragement, and support provide the stability they need to reach important developmental milestones—helping to shape a brighter and more hopeful future.
Your monthly support provides a child with school tuition, uniforms, meals, and, in some cases, school housing. It also contributes to the spiritual, academic, physical, emotional, and social formation that are a part of the school programs.
Financial support will be accepted online through your MyGrace Account or by check. Login to your MyGrace Account here. (Checks can be mailed or dropped in the campus offering boxes). When you give, please denote in the memo line that the support is for OVC Kenya.
Please do not include your OVC Kenya support in your regular church giving. For tracking purposes, all OVC funds are to be submitted as separate transactions.
Payment is due by the first of each month. You can also choose to give annually.
All gifts and donations must be approved and processed through Grace Church. Funds will be transferred to the OVC offices in Kenya and utilized at the discretion of Kenyan partners. No support should be directly coordinated through the advocate and child partner.
When possible, an advocate should support a partner child through the entire process of his/her education. If the financial commitment seems to exceed the abilities of your own family, please consider inviting your community group or another family to partner with you in providing support. Both you and your partner child will be blessed by the fruit that comes from a long-term commitment.
Advocate letters are delivered in-country by our Kenya mission trip teams throughout the year. We ask that letters be delivered to the church well in advance of a mission trip to allow time for processing, packaging, and delivery to the team prior to departure.
You will receive a schedule of trips and the corresponding deadline for delivering your letters to the church, along with reminders leading up to the due date.
Suggested Letter-Writing Topics:
When writing to your child partner, please avoid writing about or sending pictures that contain the following:
Note:
• Grace Church may return letters to the advocate when inappropriate content is included
• If an advocate has the opportunity to travel to visit their child partner, child liaisons at Grace Church will oversee the initial communication
• No monetary support should be directly coordinated through the advocate and child partner
Gift-giving in the U.S. greatly differs from the customs in Kenya. For Americans, gifts are a way for someone to express love and care for a friend or family member. Gifts are given during holidays, especially on birthdays and at Christmas. However, many Americans give gifts randomly throughout the year as a way to express appreciation towards the recipient.
In Kenya, most do not have the financial resources to give gifts regularly or even on holidays. Love and appreciation are expressed through time spent in homes and meals shared together. Gifts are sometimes presented by overnight guests who wish to honor their host but still take the form of food or other practical items.
It is our desire to honor these cultural differences and to “submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.” (Ephesians 5:21). Frequent and excessive gifts can develop habits of dependency and entitlement for your partner child and their family.