"You can do something."

by World Vision Staff

As Betty Lou and Gary Vontsolos transitioned into retirement, they started to think differently about the money they had earned and saved throughout their combined 73 years in tech careers. The North Carolina couple had already helped their two daughters with their educations, so they began asking themselves some more challenging questions.

“One of the things we continually talk about is what is enough for somebody, and do you really need all of this?” Betty Lou says.

She shared that most Americans approach retirement with the mindset of saving as much money as you can, and then gifting what is left when you die to your children. But she felt the Holy Spirit urging her to question that mindset.

“I just keep thinking that a 4-year-old in Kenya is only going to be 4 for one year, and children and situations are happening today that need addressed today,” Betty Lou says. “God has taken care of us and given us enough … There are others that need it more, and they need it today.”

“There’s no difficulty finding [need] in the world,” Gary says. “You know, the world is full of heartbreak … and looking through the Gospels and the life of Jesus, how would He have wanted us to respond?”

As they prayed and listened for direction, Betty Lou and Gary felt God calling them to put the resources He has entrusted them with into action now — instead of saving it all to one day give their daughters, who support their decision. “If we don’t need [the money] ourselves, we’re trying to be intentional about giving it away along the way rather than at the end,” Gary says.

In determining where to invest their resources, the couple knew the faith component was integral to their decision.

“We really looked at our giving and decided we wanted to focus on those that shared God’s love and Jesus’ importance in people’s lives,” Gary says. “There are lots of great organizations out there, and you can’t give to all of them … There’s so many complicated things we need to and should try to address, but it’s hard to do it all. I think you just have to focus and give strategically.”

The Vontsoloses had been regularly giving to World Vision since 2004. They liked World Vision’s strategic approach, the depth and breadth of its work, and its commitment to address a variety of complicated, “God-sized issues,” as the couple calls them — issues that can only be solved by the grace of God. In particular, Gary was deeply interested in World Vision’s clean water work, and Betty Lou was drawn to World Vision’s commitment to helping women and girls.

The couple took that deeper plunge with World Vision in 2020 when they joined Visionaries, a community of like-minded, compassionate Christians who strive — in the name of Christ — to empower children, families, and communities to transform their lives, recognizing that in doing so their own lives are also transformed.

As they became more involved and learned more about World Vision’s capacity to maximize impact, the couple felt confirmation that they were investing in the right places. Gary says, “Of course [the] needs are always huge, but [World Vision] has the ability to meet those needs in a variety of areas, and that reinforced what we had thought about the organization: that it really was focused and organized.”

The couple has always shared a love of learning, and the Visionaries community has also fueled many learning opportunities for them. Betty Lou says, “That’s one of the things that I’ll say that we’ve enjoyed with World Vision is their education part of it: being able to see a video or see what’s going on in different parts of the world, and people that are willing to explain it well.”

She’s enjoyed Visionaries chats, where technical experts provide a deeper look into World Vision’s work — like sharing the process of equipping a community with clean water — and there is an opportunity for dialogue. .

“… You can ask those questions in those Visionaries chats. I’ve never drilled a well, and I’ve never looked [for clean water], but it’s good to ask those questions — what happens when you can’t find water or how do you look for water,” she says.

Because they are deeply connected to the work through the Visionaries community, when they hear praise reports about projects they’ve invested in, they are more excited to celebrate as well.

“We feel joy at World Vision’s success,” Betty Lou says. “So when they say, ‘Hey! We’ve been able to do X, Y, and Z,’ I’m thinking, ‘I’m part of the team — yes! Go team! This is great! We are able to do this!’”

In 2023, World Vision shared that it had completed its goal to “Finish the job” in Rwanda by reaching every person, everywhere it worked in the country with clean water, and the news encouraged Gary. “That’s a great achievement, and we’ve got a tiny part of it, and we appreciate that,” he says.

Betty Lou agrees, and she says she’s most inspired by the stories of changed lives and the ripple effect they create in families and communities. She says, “[There’s] so much not going well in our world that when it does go well, you know that Jesus is there.”

Understanding the role they are able to play in the work God is already doing in communities around the world keeps them motivated to continue on this path. They encourage others to join them as Visionarieswhen people come together, they can collectively do more than any one or two individuals can on their own.

“I understand completely being overwhelmed by what’s going on in the world,” Gary says. “But what I try to remember is that when there’s something that we can do, we should do that something. You can’t solve [all] the problems — they’re too great — but you can do something. You can help a person or a community and make a difference for individuals there.”

Corey Grant and Kristy J. O’Hara-Glaspie of World Vision’s U.S. office contributed to this story.

Betty Lou and Gary's story is one of 6 Visionary donor profiles. You can explore the other stories below. Read about how their contributions are helping to end extreme poverty.