Compassion Australia
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Compassion Australia is a Christian child sponsorship organization dedicated to the long-term development of children living in poverty around the world. Compassion Australia is the Australian branch of Compassion International, which was founded in 1952 by Reverend Everett Swanson to help children orphaned by war in South Korea. Compassion International, headquartered in Colorado Springs, functions in 24 countries and currently helps more than 800,000 children.[1]
[edit] History
Compassion Australia was started by Laurie and Olive McCowan in 1977, based from their Newcastle home. The following year the company, Compassion Limited of Australia, was officially registered. Compassion was one of the first non-government agencies to respond to the Rwandan genocide in 1994. $1 million was raised for relief support for the widows and orphans left shocked, maimed and grieving by the civil war. In 2001, Laurie McCowan, Compassion Australia’s founding CEO retired having grown Compassion to 23,500 children, with an annual income of over $11 million. Paul O’Rourke, Compassion's former chief operating officer, succeeded Laurie.
Today, over 70,000 children are helped by Compassion Australia. Compassion Australia is part of a worldwide network of people helping children. In partnership with Compassion USA, Canada, The Netherlands, France, Switzerland, New Zealand, Italy, South Korea and the United Kingdom, over 850,000 children are helped by Compassion programs. Compassion Australia has grown from a staff of two to a network of over 85 paid staff members Australia wide, plus hundreds of dedicated advocates and prayer partners.
[edit] References
- ^ "Hunter health professionals offer tsunami aid", abc.net.au, December 31, 2004.
[edit] External links
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