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Lives Linked is the non-profit arm of Red Ventures, an online customer acquisition company based in Charlotte, NC. We use an advanced technology platform to help humanitarian organizations bolster their missions through rapid communication. Read on to find out how this exciting venture got its start.

Who is Lives Linked

Life in India

It all began with a trip to Sri Lanka. While visiting the tsunami-torn village of Puttalam in 2006, Red Ventures CEO Ric Elias learned of the transformative power of the India Gospel League (IGL), an organization dedicated to caring for children, families and their communities in impoverished regions of India. After visiting an IGL children's home, Elias shared his experience with the employees of Red Ventures by launching Lives Linked, a program designed to connect the employees and these children through sponsorship. Red Ventures would cover the first year of financial support for each sponsor, and the employee-sponsors would develop life-long bonds with their children through faith, encouragement and constant communication.

For three years, Lives Linked served as an internal sponsorship program for Red Ventures employees and their families. At first, employees sent hand-written letters to their sponsored children, but it proved to be a long process that hindered bonding. So one year into the program, a few Red Ventures employees proposed an idea: create a web-based mail system that works like email, and significantly shorten communication time between sponsors and children.

Thus, eLinkMail was born. Employees began corresponding with their sponsored children in a matter of days or weeks, instead of months. They traded stories and pictures, and gained an understanding of their cultural differences and similarities. The kinks were worked out, and emotional bonds were formed. Now Lives Linked is seeking sponsors beyond the walls of Red Ventures.

IGL recently announced the need for 400 new sponsors for children in IGL-run homes. These children are brought to the home either because they are orphans, or their parents are physically unable to provide for them. They receive an education, physical care and spiritual guidance from the teachers and care-givers at the home, but they need your help as they learn about the world around them.

Lives Linked provides the technology to support sponsorship programs like the one with IGL, but it can be used by any organization seeking to build connections for the care and betterment of others.

To learn more about sponsoring a child, or about how Lives Linked technology can help your organization, contact us at 704-971-4382.