As a part of our ongoing Stories of Hope blog series, we want to share with you our April 2023 Impact Report as a way to say “thank you” to all our supporters who make our work possible.
Beyond what you already provide to children through our sponsorship program, your donations to our Special Funds and Special Projects allow us to help families and communities as well, often in times of crisis.
YOUR IMPACT AROUND THE WORLD
Thanks to you, we were able to provide funds for emergency basic needs for three children at Cardinal Elementary School in Virginia after a house fire this month.
Just in this past month, our donors have:
– Provided Higher Education Funds for three students pursuing university degrees in Nicaragua who attend the Casa Betania Welfare Center
– Provided funds to purchase menstrual hygiene items for one month for 25 students at Santa Isabel Ana Seton in Guatemala
– Provided funds to purchase food and school supplies for a Kinder Camp for newly enrolled students in our sponsorship program at Bevins Elementary School in Kentucky
Donors in Virginia provided new clothes and hygiene items to our sponsored children at Huguenot High School in April.
– Provided funds to purchase cleaning supplies and hygiene items for families of students in our program at Phelps High School in Kentucky
– Provided funds to purchase food for a month for 25 students at the Dandora Center in Kenya
– Provided funds to stock a new library with books at the Dzilth Community School in New Mexico
– Provided funds to purchase clothes and shoes and to replace items lost in a house fire for a student in our program at Greyhills Academy in Arizona
– Provided funds to purchase a full-size refrigerator for the resource centers’ feeding program at May Valley Elementary School in Kentucky
– Provided funds for emergency basic needs for three children at Cardinal Elementary School in Virginia after a house fire
… all in addition to the support you already provide to children through our sponsorship program. Thank you for everything you do for children in need!
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HOW do I MAKE A DONATION TO CHILDREN INCORPORATED?
You can donate to Children Incorporated in one of three ways: call our office at 1-800-538-5381 and speak with one of our staff members; email us at hello@children-inc.org and a staff member can assist you with making a donation; or go online to our donation portal, create an account, and choose a particular fund in which to make a donation.
Three days after arriving in Manila, our volunteer coordinator at the Fortune’s Center, Joy, offered to drive me the hour and a half out of the city to Tagaytay, where our affiliated site, the Pinagpala Center, was located.
Nilo also works with parents who are struggling with drug addiction and helps them to rehabilitate by not only getting off drugs, but showing their friends, family and peers that they care about getting better and changing their lives.
I was able to hear about the center a little more the previous day when Joy, our former sponsored child Genesis, and I had lunch with our former coordinator at the Fortune Center, Polly Jonson, and her friend Poying.
Both now in their 80s, both Polly and Poying joked and laughed with us during our meal, as vibrant as most half their ages. Poying mentioned that she started the Pinagpala Center many years ago, in 2007, after seeing the success Polly was having helping children in her community at the Fortune Center. I loved both their energy, and they talked enthusiastically about our current volunteer coordinator at the Pinagpala Center, Nilo, who I would meet the following day.
Tagaytay is located south of metro Manila, and is a busy tourist area for Filipinos escaping the hustle of the city in exchange for a small mountain town. Tagaytay overlooks Taal Lake and the Taal Volcano Island, and visitors and residents alike find the cool temperature and incredible scenery to be idyllic.
getting to know nilo
After Joy dropped me off at my hotel, I made a plan for Nilo to come by so we could meet in the lobby and discuss the next few days that I would have in Tagaytay to meet with him, our sponsored children and their parents, and get a chance to visit the Pinagpala Center. As we sat at a small, round table surrounded by hotel guests enjoying afternoon tea or coffee, we chatted about the Children Incorporated program and Nilo’s work within the community.
Nilo works with children, adults and entire families to help improve their lives and the community at whole in Tagaytay.
In addition to helping children through sponsorship support at the Pinagpala Center, Nilo also worked with the local police on what he described as “morality training,” in which he conducted lectures on how to incorporate ethical decision making into everyday police work. Nilo also works with parents who are struggling with drug addiction and helps them to rehabilitate by not only getting off drugs, but showing their friends, family and peers that they care about getting better and changing their lives.
I found all of what Nilo was saying very fascinating — especially in regard to his work with drug users. In a country where the former president, Rodrigo Duterte, regularly made global headlines due to his strictly enforced drug policies, which had led to an estimated 12,000 Filipino deaths from 2016 to 2022, it was interesting to hear about the issue from someone within the country, who was working day to day to help those suffering from substance abuse issues as opposed to criminalizing them. I could see how his work in drug rehabilitation, ethical police work, and child poverty all tied in together. Nilo’s efforts were all geared toward education, acceptance and understanding, and providing support to those in need.
Visiting the center
After nearly an hour, we made a plan to meet again outside the hotel early the next day. When Nilo picked me up the following morning, he first took me to visit the homes of some of our sponsored children before we would meet with them and their parents at the Pinagpala Center in the afternoon. The children all live in various parts of the same neighborhood, in walking distance from the center, which they visit a few times a week to receive food, hygiene items, and school supplies. Most of the homes were similar, with only three rooms — a kitchen, a living room and a bedroom — and very limited space.
I was all too happy to have a seat as well to watch and think about how grateful I was to meet Nilo and find out just how much he was doing to help the community at large.
Although modest, I was pleasantly surprised, that compared to so many of the other homes I had visited during my time with Children Incorporated, the houses were made of sturdy concrete and were connected by pavement walkways instead of dirt. Nilo was intrigued that I considered the homes so nice, as he was aware of how poor these families were, and how little money they lived off of.
We visited roughly ten or twelve homes before we got back in Nilo’s car to drive to the Pinagpala Center, where we would wait for the children to arrive. Nilo told me they wanted to thank me for visiting with a song and dance which they had been working on all week, choreographed by Nilo’s wife, a school teacher who helped Nilo at the center when she could. We made our way down a long driveway and stopped next to a two-story building which towered over the smaller houses that surrounded it. Once getting out of the car, I had to stand back to see the top of the center — the impressive building looked new and was obviously constructed very well.
Helping Expand Pinagpala
Thanks to our donors, we were able to support the expansion of the Pinagpala Center. The first of three floors is pictured, which serves as a gathering space for children and parents.
Nilo told me that many years ago, when Children Incorporated first became affiliated with the center, it was a one-story wooden building that was used as a church. The congregation agreed to let Piyog use it to start the sponsorship program, giving her a place to distribute basic needs items to children throughout the month.
The reason the building is so much bigger today, Nilo explained, is that our Director of International Programs, Luis Bourdet, supported the efforts to expand the center, adding two more floors and converting the first floor from wood to concrete.
Once we stepped inside, I could see just how vital that support really was — the first floor was used as a gathering space with a kitchen and small stage. The second floor was used for storage of distribution supplies for our sponsored children. This beautiful center was now big enough and secure enough for Nilo to run our program, one that he was so obviously passionate about. Before I knew it, our quiet tour was interrupted by the excited chatter of small children as they rushed into the building and took their seats by the stage, eagerly awaiting their big performances. I was all too happy to have a seat as well to watch and think about how grateful I was to meet Nilo and find out just how much he was doing to help the community at large.
You can sponsor a child in the Philippines in one of three ways: call our office at 1-800-538-5381 and speak with one of our staff members; email us at sponsorship@children-inc.org; or go online to our sponsorship portal, create an account, and search for a child in the Philippines that is available for sponsorship.
As a part of our ongoing Stories of Hope blog series, we want to share with you our March 2023 Impact Report as a way to say “thank you” to all our supporters who make our work possible.
Beyond what you already provide to children through our sponsorship program, your donations to our Special Funds and Special Projects allow us to help families and communities as well, often in times of crisis.
YOUR IMPACT AROUND THE WORLD
Just in this past month, our donors have:
– Provided funds to build a protective fence around the Lourdes School in Bolivia after it was damaged by a fire
– Provided funds to purchase menstrual hygiene items for 25 girls at the Juan Apostol School in Guatemala
Along with so much more, your donations this month have allowed us to purchase water filters for the Santo Nino Center in the Philippines.
– Provided funds to purchase water filters for the Santo Nino Center in the Philippines
– Provided funds to purchase warm clothing for children at Mullins Elementary School in Kentucky
– Provide funds to purchase a month’s supply of food for 25 children at the Dandora Center in Kenya
– Provided emergency funds to purchase clothes and supplies for a child at Tuba City Boarding School in Arizona who was placed in a foster care home
– Provided funds to purchase water filters for families at the Pingapala Center in the Philippines
– Provided daily meals for 25 children at the Fortune Center in the Philippines
– Provided funds to purchase meals for 200 children living in poverty who attend the St. John’s Community Center in Kenya
– Provided funds for basic needs for children living in an economic crisis who attend the Armenian Evangelical Secondary School – Anjar in Lebanon
… all in addition to the support you already provide through sponsorship to children in our program. Thank you for everything you do for children in need!
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HOW do I MAKE A DONATION TO CHILDREN INCORPORATED?
You can donate to Children Incorporated in one of three ways: call our office at 1-800-538-5381 and speak with one of our staff members; email us at hello@children-inc.org and a staff member can assist you with making a donation; or go online to our donation portal, create an account, and choose a particular fund in which to make a donation.
For many years, I have looked forward to the time when I would be able to visit our affiliated sites in the Philippines.
Over the next weeks, I will continue to share more stories about each of our affiliated sites in the Philippines.
My knowledge of the country has been limited to what I would hear on global new stations relating to politics or natural disasters, and without ever having visited, I knew little else about this nation consisting of over 7,000 islands. But as with all the other countries I have had the privilege of traveling to with Children Incorporated, I knew that as soon as I met with our volunteer coordinators in the Philippines, my perspective of the country would change instantly and drastically.
A Trip across the globe
In mid-January, I first flew from the United States to the capital of Manila to meet with Joy and Angel, who operate the Fortune’s Children Center in the Fortune barangay — one of sixteen barangays (equivalent to a neighborhood or suburb in the U.S.) in the district of Marikina in Metro Manila. While there, I also had the chance to meet our former long-time coordinator, and the founder of the center, Polly Johnson.
Three days later, Joy drove me to Tagaytay, two hours south of Manila, where I met with our volunteer coordinator, Nilo, who runs the Pingapala Children’s Center. I was also introduced to Poying, who started the center after seeing the success and impact of the Fortune Center run by her close friend, Polly.
The second week of my journey took me on a short flight from Manila to Tacloban, in the Eastern Visayans region of the Philippines. Just in the last few years, we expanded our sponsorship program from one affiliated site in the region to three, all operated by Volunteers for the Visayans (VFV), a non-governmental organization that supports underprivileged communities in the area. My visit would mark the first time Children Incorporated was seeing the two new sites in person since their establishment as our partners during the pandemic.
A full schedule of visits
The main site of the five run by the VFV is the Visayans Center at Bliss, which is located in the heart of Tacloban in the Bliss neighborhood, tucked away among small alleyways surrounded by low-income housing. The Cancumbang and Santo Nino Centers are in more remote areas of the city, about 45 minutes away by car, where those families living in more rural settings face different types of struggles living in poverty from those in the city.
As always, thank you for your continued support of children in our program in the Philippines and around the world.
Our volunteer coordinators, Wimwim and Ester, who both work full-time for VFV, not only showed me all of the centers but scheduled their monthly supply distributions during my time with them so I met all our sponsored children and their parents while also seeing our work supporting these families in action.
Over the next weeks, I will continue to share more stories about each of our affiliated sites in the Philippines to highlight what our sponsors and donors have done for so many people in this vibrant, peaceful and beautiful country known as the Pearl of the Orient Seas. As always, thank you for your continued support of children in our program in the Philippines and around the world.
You can sponsor a child in the Philippines in one of three ways: call our office at 1-800-538-5381 and speak with one of our staff members; email us at sponsorship@children-inc.org; or go online to our sponsorship portal, create an account, and search for a child in the Philippines that is available for sponsorship.
My nineteen-year-old daughter, a sophomore in college, moved into a shared apartment back in the fall. Deciding which of her belongings to bringfrom home was a challenge because of the limited space in her closet and dresser at the apartment.
New needs arise each day, and Children Incorporated is there to meet as many of those needs as possible, often through this special outreach effort – our Clothing and Shoes Fund.
My family is currently in the process of downsizing to a smaller house, so we wanted my daughter to take as many of her personal belongings with her as possible. She was actually forced to get rid of quite a few quality items as she moved into her new residence because there simply was no room for them.
You see, my daughter loves clothes and shoes, and she has a lot of them. She likes nothing better than to scour the racks at thrift, bargain, and vintage clothing stores in search of discounted name-brands and stylish jeans, tops, outerwear and sneakers. This problem – having too many clothes and shoes – is definitely not one that the children enrolled in Children Incorporated’s sponsorship program ever encounter. In fact, many of them face just the opposite issue. Over the years, wehave heard numerous stories of children with only one outfit suitable to wear to school, or of children whose clothes are threadbare and ill-fitting. We have even witnessed siblings who shared one coat between them, forcing them to alternate the days they attended school during the heart of winter.
Our Clothing and Shoes Fund provides for children in the United States and across the world.
It is a common theme, even today, in many of our U.S. site locations for children to attend school during the coldest months of the year without socks, wearing flimsy footwear such as flip-flops, and without jackets, coats, gloves, or hats.
Our Clothing Fund is one of the most important resources we have for helping children to dress appropriately, neatly, and warmly. This fund has provided pants, shirts, shoes and socks to thousands upon thousands of children in need. It was one of the first special funds that we created back in the 1960s and was originally called simply our Warm Clothing Fund. Over the decades we, through the incredible and continuing generosity of our sponsors and donors, have supplied children with coats and jackets, hats and gloves, and in some situations, sandals, shorts and t-shirts, to equip them for the weather where they live.
We come to you again, asking for your support of our Clothing Fund. New needs arise each day, and Children Incorporated is there to meet as many of those needs as possible, often through this special outreach effort – our Clothing Fund.
Our organization has repeatedly been recognized as an exemplary nonprofit by the major charitable monitoring groups, such as Charity Navigator and Charity Watch, because we take helping children seriously. Our mission is and always has been to improve lives and to offer hope and opportunity. We can only do these things with your help.
From the heart,
Ron Carter, President and CEO
Children Incorporated
As a part of our ongoing Stories of Hope blog series, we want to share with you our February 2023 Impact Report as a way to say “thank you” to all our supporters who make our work possible.
This past month, your donations have provided funds for an educational field trip to Washington, D.C. for students who attend Martin County Middle School in Kentucky, among so much more.
Beyond what our donors already provide to children through our sponsorship program, additional donations to our Special Funds and Special Projects allow us to help families and communities as well, often in times of crisis.
YOUR IMPACT AROUND THE WORLD
Just in this past month, you have:
– Provided funds to purchase food for an entire month for children at Santa Isabel Seton in Guatemala
– Provided funds for an educational field trip to Washington, D.C. for students who attend Martin County Middle School in Kentucky
– Provided funds to purchase food for children at the Armenian Secondary School in Anjar, Lebanon
– Provided funds to purchase food for a month for children at the Dandora Community Center in Kenya
– Provided food for the month of February for 200 children at St. John’s Community Center in Kenya
– Provided funds to purchase food for a month for 25 children at the Fortune’s Children Center in the Philippines
– Provided winter boots and socks for students at the Dennehotso Boarding School in Arizona
– Provided funds to buy warm blankets for students at the Hanaa Dli Community School/Huerfano Dormitory in New Mexico
– Provided emergency funding for food for a newly enrolled sponsored child and her family at Morgan County Middle School
– Provided space heaters for a family in need at Baca Dlo’ay azhi Community School in New Mexico
HOW do I MAKE A DONATION TO CHILDREN INCORPORATED?
You can donate to Children Incorporated in one of three ways: call our office at 1-800-538-5381 and speak with one of our staff members; email us at hello@children-inc.org and a staff member can assist you with making a donation; or go online to our donation portal, create an account, and choose a particular fund in which to make a donation.
