Sixty years ago, a preacher from Chicago flew to South Korea to minister to American troops fighting in the Korean War. During his daily strolls on the frigid, wintry sidewalks of Seoul, the Rev. Everett Swanson 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. He made good on that promise by raising money to support a Korean orphanage and by persuading Christian Koreans to start new orphanages. He soon established a unique program that allowed an individual in the Western world to provide Bible-based education, food, clothing, shelter and medical care for a Korean orphan for a few dollars a month.

One man’s act of compassion in 1952 has blossomed into a ministry that today helps more than 1.3 million babies, children and college students in 26 developing countries grow stronger in health, education, income-generating skills — and faith in Jesus.

Embracing children in need remains the heart of Compassion and has been honed over six decades of ministry. At the center of that heart is you, the sponsor. Your one-to-one relationship with an impoverished child, coupled with Compassion’s child development model, are essential. They enable children to thrive and develop into healthy Christian adults. Compassion-assisted children are free from poverty, free from hopelessness — and spiritually free in Jesus Christ.

One man’s act of compassion in 1952 has blossomed into a ministry that today helps more than 1.3 million children.

Rev. Everett Swanson

1954BONDS THAT SAVE Swanson further develops the support ministry into a sponsorship program in the United States, enabling individuals, groups and churches to provide individual South Korean orphans with food, clothing, educational supplies, medical care and Christian teaching. At a few dollars each month, the program is affordable for ordinary families. These initial efforts have grown over the years into a program that meets the needs of children from birth to young adulthood, enabling them to become fulfilled, Christian adults.

1965FACE TO FACE The first “sponsor tour” of 113 sponsors and friends visits Compassion-assisted orphanages and projects in South Korea. The first official Sponsor Tours, in which sponsors visit the children they support, begin in 1986. Today, Compassion conducts Sponsor Tours each year, visiting every country where we work. Sponsors frequently say how life-altering their trips are, and how they gain a new appreciation for Compassion’s ministry and God’s calling in their own lives.

1952LITTLE LIVES, GIANT NEEDS Appalled by the great number of small, shivering and starving war orphans he sees on the streets of Seoul, South Korea, the Rev. Everett Swanson begins a ministry to save them. Compassion stays in South Korea for 40 years, playing an important part in helping the children thrive and grow into adults who build a prosperous economy. Today, South Korea is a Compassion partner country, with sponsors there now helping children in developing nations.

1963PARTNERS AROUND THE WORLD Canada becomes U.S.-based Compassion’s first partner country. Current President Barry Slauenwhite, pictured below, has led the ministry for more than 25 years. Today, 11 partner countries continue to build a diverse network of caring sponsors around the world.

Rev. Everett Swanson and his wife, Miriam, visit children in Korea.

1968GOING GLOBAL Compassion launches its global growth, building ministries in India, Indonesia, Haiti and Singapore. Although Compassion no longer works in Singapore, the ministry today has Child Sponsorship Programs in 26 developing nations.

1974BUILDING mINDS AND FUTURES Compassion begins setting up school projects to help sponsored children who otherwise couldn’t receive an education. Education is one of the most important tools a child can have to climb out of the vicious cycle of poverty that often plagues generations of families. Today, Compassion’s 5,800 front-line church partners provide tutoring and after-school activities. Because they work one-on-one with children, they are keenly aware of the children’s individual needs and are able to help them with what they need most.

1978A CRITICAL STEP Compassion establishes a fund to provide sponsored children, their families and communities with additional relief and development support. Today, these critical interventions cover a wide range of needs, including medical care, safe water, sanitation improvements, disaster relief, mosquito netting to prevent malaria, HIV and AIDS prevention and treatment programs, and care for highly vulnerable children.

1994HOPE AmID HORROR During the carnage of the Rwandan genocide that claims an estimated 1 million people — many of whom are women and children — Compassion distributes relief supplies and offers trauma counseling to sponsored children and their families. Here, a 12-year-old girl bearing a scar from a machete blow sips porridge provided by Compassion. The girl survived the massacre by pretending to be dead.

1996A PATH TO HIGHER EDUCATION Compassion launches the Leadership Development Program in the Philippines to help students receive a university education and Christian leadership training and mentoring. The program now supports nearly 3,000 outstanding students in 18 countries.

2003SURVIVAL OF THE SmALLEST To help children survive their first few critical years of life (when malnutrition, pneumonia, malaria and diarrhea take the highest toll in developing countries), Compassion starts the Child Survival Program. Specially trained partner-church workers visit the homes of registered families to offer education and practical assistance to the mother, parent or caregiver responsible for the child’s survival. With the program now serving more than 27,000 children and their caretakers in 18 countries, Compassion ministers to children from before birth through early adulthood.

1993A NEW ERA OF LEADERSHIP Rev. Wallace Erickson retires from Compassion after successfully serving as president for 18 years, and Dr. Wesley Stafford assumes the presidency. Wess, who had already served 15 years with Compassion both overseas and at the Global Ministry Center in Colorado Springs, Colo., still holds the position today. Wess grew up in Africa’s Ivory Coast and shares his missionary parents’ commitment to serving those in need. Every year he travels to some of the poorest countries in the world, investing himself in Compassion’s quest to fight poverty by releasing children from it.

2004WAVE OF DESTRUCTION A massive tsunami triggered by an 8.9-magnitude earthquake off the west coast of Sumatra, Indonesia, kills more than 220,000 people in 13 countries — including Compassion countries India, Indonesia and Thailand — and leaves millions more homeless. Compassion donors help families of sponsored children in relief and recovery efforts. Compassion also constructs 83 new homes for families who weren’t part of Compassion’s program in Loh village, on Breuh Island in Indonesia.

2008ONE AND A mILLION Fellow Kpodo, a quiet 8-year-old boy in the West African country of Togo, becomes Compassion’s 1 millionth sponsored child. Fellow lives with his widowed father, brother and two sisters in a small cement row house. He doesn’t comprehend the significance of 1 million, but he knows the joy of one: his sponsor, South Korean Jang Mi-Ran.

2010RISING FROm THE RUBBLE A magnitude-7 earthquake destroys most of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, killing more than 200,000 people and leaving a million homeless. Because Compassion already has church partners and child development centers in Haiti, workers are able to spring quickly into action to provide Compassion- assisted children and their families medical attention, food and shelter. At Compassion child development centers, children and their families also receive access to mobile medical clinics, trauma counseling, safe water and temporary schools.

2012LETTER POWER Today, more than 1.3 million children receive love, prayer support and hope from their Compassion sponsors. Powerful and lasting relationships form when sponsors and children write letters to each other. This is just one of the many approaches that make Compassion’s Child Sponsorship Program effective. Through the exchange of letters, sponsors learn more about the lives, hopes and dreams of the children they are helping. And the children are uplifted by their sponsors’ news, photos, and words of love and encouragement.