The former US President George HW Bush passed away last November 30. But even after this, he continues to warm the hearts of many people around the world and especially the hearts of many Filipinos.
Recently, a report on CNN revealed that the former president secretly sponsored a Filipino kid for 10 years and they even wrote letters to each other regularly.
In 2001, Bush attended a Christmas concert in Washington, where he learned about the child sponsorship program by Compassion International. The former US president then picks a Filipino kid named Timothy to sponsor.
He eventually provided his needs for 10 years and was funding his education, extracurricular activities, and some of his meals through Compassion International. He also sends him gifts even though that was not actually allowed.
The former president of Compassion International, Wess Stafford, said that he became in charge of screening each letter from the former US president. Bush would send Timothy a letter identifying himself as ‘G. Walker’ and even wrote his first letter to him and said that he loved Timothy from the get-go.
Wess Stafford spends the next years screening the correspondence between them and he was amused to read that the former president would sometimes provide hints to Timothy about his real identity.
There are some instances that Bush was giving some information about him. He sent Timothy a photo of his dog Sadie and he also wrote a letter and told Timothy about getting invited to the White House Christmas Party.
“Dear Timothy,
I love that picture of you holding that ‘World Time’ gadget. I also have learned that you play the guitar – terrific!
Timothy, have you ever heard of the White House? That’s where the president of the USA lives.
I got to go to the White House at Christmas time. Here is a little booklet that I got at the White House in Washington,” he wrote.
When he learned that Timothy was an aspiring artist who would sometimes send him drawings, Bush sent him sketch pads, paint, and colored pencils. Even if they weren’t allowed to send gifts to the sponsored kids, but he did it, anyway.
Timothy never realized he was exchanging letters with the 41st President of the United States of America. In fact, it was only after he graduated at the age of 17 when the information about his real sponsor was revealed to him.
He was greatly surprised and he couldn’t believe that ‘Mr. G. Walker’ turned out to be former President George HW Bush. According to Stafford, Timothy said that the revelation was ‘life-changing’ for him.