Over the past year, families and communities have faced daunting challenges — from extreme weather events to economic uncertainty — yet they’ve also celebrated remarkable victories.
Thanks to the unwavering commitment of sponsors and donors, Unbound continues to envision and build a brighter future, one story at a time.
“Hope empowers families to persevere, dream boldly and take action,” Ashley Hufft, president and CEO of Unbound said in her recent video thanking the community of supporters who are helping to provide that much-needed hope. “Families have achieved more than 299,000 priority goals they set for themselves, gaining safer housing, better health and more income.”
The year 2025 has been a testament to resilience, innovation and shared achievement. Here are some of the inspiring stories that reflect the strength and determination of the families and communities we serve.
December 18, 2025 | Child Sponsorship
Top 10 Stories of 2025
A look back at a year filled with challenges, hope and growth.
By Tammy Marino
1. Redefining poverty: Benefits of cash transfers
Unbound utilizes direct cash transfers to deliver economic support to families. This method, coupled with personalized support, is helping Unbound and the families we serve redefine how the world should view poverty and what it will take to eradicate it.
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Elvira, the mother of a sponsored child in the Philippines, records and tracks her child’s monthly cash benefit in a booklet. One of the biggest challenges in implementing the cash transfer method was that many families had never had bank accounts and didn’t possess the documentation needed to open them.
2. On the shores of Lake Atitlán
Pedro, a sponsored elder in Guatemala who battles wind and waves in his canoe to collect the “tule” he needs for his weaving business, is preserving Mayan culture while aiding environmental conservation.
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Pedro, an Unbound sponsored elder, has made a livelihood in and around the waters of Lake Atitlán as a farmer and mat weaver.
3. Typhoon Tino brings devastating flooding; Uwan compounds impact
Many Unbound communities are vulnerable to severe weather and other natural disasters. This year, the Philippines was struck by multiple strong typhoons and an earthquake that affected sponsored friends and their families.
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Severe flooding and devastating winds took a heavy toll on communities in the Philippines in November 2025.
4. Empowering women with financial inclusion to break the cycle of poverty
Unbound empowers women and mothers to lead their families from poverty through access to grants and loans for small businesses.
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Madhuri sits next to freshly made bread in the bakery room of her home in India. Her goal is to expand her breadmaking business by opening another bakery in a nearby town.
5. 'Blessings' for her memory
The determination of a mothers group called “Blessings,” combined with a donor’s support of their Agents of Change proposal and a desire to honor the memory of his late wife, is improving postnatal care for thousands of infants and expectant mothers in Meru, Kenya.
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Since adding the vaccine refrigerator and vaccination services to Ntumburi dispensary, nurse Mwendwa estimates the staff vaccinates two to three more infants per day and sees 20-25 patients from Meru and surrounding counties.
6. Nurturing dreams
An entrepreneurship program in Unbound’s Cartagena program is teaching sponsored children business skills while laying the foundation for them to one day create sustainable jobs in their vulnerable communities.
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Javier, now 14, was one of the sponsored children from his community who participated in the Emprende Kids pilot launched by Unbound’s Cartagena program.
7. Peace in a tiny home
Using the Poverty Stoplight tool to guide them, a mother and son in Guatemala set and obtain goals to build a home and know the peace of having a space all their own.
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Débora and Hamilton walk the property at their home in Guatemala. Business development strategies they learned through their Unbound small group have helped them create a successful business raising, butchering and selling chickens, the earnings of which helped them fund much of the construction of their new home.
8. Weaving a beautiful future
Jackeline, sponsored youth and scholar, creates textiles with needle and thread while pursuing her studies in psychology.
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Education is a priority for Jackeline and her family. Jackeline devotes time to her psychology studies in hopes of one day opening a clinic.
9. The worth of water
A mothers group in Guatemala enlisted Unbound’s Agents of Change to fund two community water tanks and one pump, providing much-needed access to clean water.
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Thanks to an Agents of Change initiative, Brenda and her entire community now have safe, nearby access to clean water for drinking and cooking.
10. Thank you for the hope you provide
Unbound President and CEO Ashley Hufft shared her gratitude for Unbound supporters with a special Thanksgiving message.
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President and CEO Ashley Hufft (center) walks with staff and families during a recent visit to Unbound program locations in Africa in 2025.
All of us at Unbound are grateful to everyone who helped make 2025 a year filled with hope, self-determination and achievement, and look forward to all we’ll accomplish together in 2026.