General Questions
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Are you a US 501(c)3?
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Are you a theme camp?
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What kind of projects do you support?
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Can I, my business, my club, or my church group,
organize a project?
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How can I get involved?
Donating Questions
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Where does the money I donated go?
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Can I donate towards a particular project,
even if I’m not supporting a particular volunteer?
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Can I also donate goods?
Volunteering Questions
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Who can apply to volunteer?
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Do I have to pay for my own trip or do you pay for my trips?
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Do you have any projects locally?
Child Sponsorship Questions
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What is Sponsorship?
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Why become a Sponsor?
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What does sponsorship money go towards?
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Can I write to the child?
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Can I visit the child?
Q. Are you a US 501(c)3?
A. Yes! Serving Others Worldwide (SOW) has been granted
501(c)3 nonprofit status by the Internal Revenue Service.
Donations to Serving Others Worldwide are tax-exempt!
If you would like a copy of the IRS determination letter,
please contact us at info@servingothers.org.
Back to top Q. Are you a theme camp?
A. No. Our organization of volunteers travels to areas around the world needing humanitarian aid to donate our services and help individuals and communities in need.
Back to top Q. What kind of projects do you support?
A. We embrace any and all opportunities to provide food,
medical aid, clean water, and education to our world family in need!
Back to top Q. Can I, my business, my club, or my church group, organize a project?
A. Yes! We welcome all who are interested in organizing and coordinating new projects to
contact Serving Others Worldwide to learn how we can work together to provide food, clean water, education, medical and dental assistance, health and wellness, disaster relief, sustainable living and more around the world!
Back to top Q. How can I get involved?
A. All are invited to become involved in helping Serving Others Worldwide by
either becoming a regular contributor or by personally volunteering.
Tax-deductible donations via credit card, debit card, bank or Paypal
can be received on our
online
donations page or personal
checks and money orders can be mailed to us. If you are
interested in volunteering for an upcoming humanitarian aid project,
you may join by filling out and sending in our downloadable application.
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Q. Where does the money I donated go?
A. As all of our board members, administration, and staff are volunteers, 100% of your donations go to directly help those in need! When donating on behalf of a specific volunteer,
the funds also go to cover the cost of food, lodging, airfare, visa, building materials, and medical supplies.
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Q. Can I donate towards a particular project, even if I’m not supporting a particular volunteer?
A. Absolutely! Feel free to either name a country or just leave it to the general fund for us to distribute equally between the projects needing assistance.
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Q. Can I also donate goods?
A. Yes, we need such things as rubber crocs to give to those that do not have shoes, backpacks or book bags for school children, toothbrushes and medical supplies,
and also any connection to those you may know who can provide windmills or well digging
equipment to provide sustainable electricity and clean water around the world.
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Q. Who can apply to volunteer?
A. Anyone and everyone can volunteer as long as they are in good health and have a spirit of love and service. For children under 16 we invite them to volunteer with a parent or with their family as a whole.
We have been blessed with hard working individuals from 8 to 80 in the past! We also welcome all professionals in the medical or dental fields as we hold clinics in each location we are in.
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Q. Do I have to pay for my own trip or do you pay for my trips?
A. Each volunteer contributes towards their own project costs. Generally, for international aid, this amounts to approximately $3700 per person (which
covers the cost of food, lodging, airfare, visa, building materials, and
medical supplies).
Our organization assists volunteers with their fundraising by
providing each volunteer with fundraising materials such as letters, color brochures, and
PowerPoint presentations and even assist local volunteers by doing group presentations with them at their schools, churches, and business to promote awareness and raise funds on their behalf.
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Q. Do you have any projects locally?
A. Yes! Locally we seek to aid those affected by poverty and/or natural disasters. We also work in
conjunction with United Way - Day of Caring. For more information on current local projects please contact us at
helpus@servingothers.org.
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Q. What is Sponsorship?
A. We know you care about helping children in need. And through the
Serving Others Worldwideî “ponsorship Program, you can! Sponsorship is a great way to experience the joys of helping a needy child, and make a lasting difference in his or her life.
Although you're under no obligation, we hope you'll consider sponsorship an ongoing commitment and continue to provide long-term support for your child. It’s the best way to make the sponsorship program affordable and efficient. More importantly, it can make a lasting difference and help ease the pain of poverty.
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Q. Why become a Sponsor?
A. It gives you a chance to share a unique relationship with
a child. As a sponsor, through regular contributions, you'll help
provide important benefits to a special child living in poverty. Our
goal is to help children become self-reliant, productive citizens of
their communities.
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Q. What does the sponsorship money go towards?
A. Contributions are used to help educate the individual
children you choose who live in rural underprivileged areas. We are
privileged to provide essential benefits to these individual boys and girls
through your generous and loving support.
Each month, sponsorship funds are use to
fund their school expenses and educational supplies to provide
education to the sponsored children. We have established stringent accounting and financial reporting procedures to ensure that the funds and products that we send to our field projects are properly used.
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Q. Can I write to the child?
A. Yes! Exchanging letters with your sponsored child can help build a wonderful relationship that will be rewarding to you both. You may even include pictures of yourself so your child will really get to know you. Because most sponsored children do not read English, a staff member in our field office will translate your letter. Both your original letter and the translation are given to your child.
Please send letters to your child in care of our office:
Serving Others Worldwide
3702 So Fife St #255
Tacoma, WA 98409
You may also include additional paper products like bookmarks, postcards or stickers. Sorry, but we are unable to forward other materials like plastic toys, jewelry, wood products or metal objects.
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Q. Can I visit the child?
A. Yes! Your child would be delighted to have you visit. And you can see for yourself how much your sponsorship is helping him or her. When planned in advance, visiting your sponsored child can be an amazing experience. In fact, sponsors who have visited their children rave about how meaningful and rewarding those visits are.
Just contact our Seattle office as soon as possible
to see if you can join as a volunteer to the projects we have set up
in the child's location. Our staff will gladly help arrange a visit with your sponsored child. We’ll also provide you with valuable information, procedures to follow during your visit, and other helpful material to make the most of your visit.
To arrange a visit, call us at 1-253-987-5227,
or email us at
helpus@servingothers.org . You may also write to us at:
Serving Others Worldwide
3702 So Fife St #255
Tacoma, WA 98409
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