The year is 1952, and the Korean War is in full swing. People in the USA watch newsreels about events unfolding in Korea.

Among the Americans concerned about Korea is Chicago resident Everett Swanson. He decides to visit the American military personnel fighting in the war.

The plight of the American soldiers is expected, but what Swanson sees in South Korea’s communities horrifies him:

“During his time there, he grew increasingly troubled by the sight of hundreds of war orphans living on the streets, abandoned by society.

One morning he saw city workers scoop up what looked like piles of rags and toss them into the back of a truck. He walked up to the truck for a closer look — and was horrified to see that the ‘piles’ were not rags, but the frozen bodies of orphans who had died overnight in the streets.

Swanson could not turn his back on these unwanted children and vowed to find a way to help them.”

Upon returning to Chicago, Swanson organizes a relief effort to help the orphans created by the Korean War. That relief effort evolves into a permanent private organization.

Swanson decides that the children being supported should not be nameless and faceless. He asks supporters to sponsor specific children in order to meet the children’s daily needs.

By September of 1961, the organization is supporting 108 orphanages and homes in South Korea.

In 1963, Swanson’s organization is officially named Compassion, Incorporated.

In 1965, Everett Swanson dies, and the torch that he lit is passed on to others.

The work expands into 25 other nations. By 1993, South Korea no longer needs the help, but children in the USA do. Work begins in the United States with American inner-city and rural youth, as well as with Native American children.*

Now, one might be asking, “Are these children really helped?”

The best person to answer that question is one of the children.

In 1994, six-year-old Ruth sent the following letter to her sponsor:

“Dear _____________, I am very happy because in a far place called Oklahoma lives a person who loves me. I was sad because my father doesn’t think about my needs. [Ruth had been abandoned by her father.] When I receive your letters, my mother helps me to read them. I am happy for this. My mother smiles to see how I am happy. I accept your help. Thank you for your wish of being my sponsor. My mother and my sister greet you. God bless you. I send hugs and kisses to you. God bless you forever.”

When she was a teenager, Ruth sent the following letter to her sponsor:

“Hello my loved Dad. I hope your life is bright and that you have the best friendship with the best friend we can have, our good God. I am enjoying the project and learning from God’s Word. Please pray that God will bring prosperity to our project as I am not the only one here. There are many other teenagers and children who receive many benefits because of the great help you are giving us. I have to say bye. Remember that I love you and that you are my great support. Your daughter, Ruth.”

Ruth’s childhood had a happy ending. She is not alone in that. More than 2 million children have been aided through the organization that Everett Swanson started in 1952.

In the 2005 film Robots, main protagonist Rodney Copperbottom proclaims, “See a need, fill a need.”

70 years ago, Everett Swanson saw a need and then recruited people to fill that need. More than 2 million children and their families are grateful as a result.

I have been sponsoring children through Compassion International since June of 1987. I started sponsoring Ruth in October of 1994.

I am still in contact with Ruth, and she still calls me Papi, which is Spanish for Daddy. Sadly, Ruth and I have never met face-to-face.

Today, in honor of my late wife, I sponsor a girl who lives in the nation that my wife was from, and the girl’s first and middle names are the same as my wife’s.