I am going to do something that I very rarely do.   I am going to ask for help.  I will explain what has been going on and then share the emergency.

October has been a very stressful month due to health problems.

Princess was taken by ambulance to the hospital after her mother found her fevered and delirious.   She had an internal infection and a case of Dengue Fever.  She spent 6 days in the hospital on IV medication before she was well enough to send her home.

Princess

Kevin and Leray both had cases of Dengue Fever, but they were taken to the doctor early and did not have to be admitted.   The elderly man that volunteers his help, gave Inday the money for his medicine so that they could start treatment before they would have time to tell me what was happening and send funds.

 

Leray and Kevin

Gregory is and is the man who also helps often, and sleeps in front of the door most nights so if an intruder tries to come in, he will be awakened.   This is a real problem as there have been many times that homes were broken into during the night while the residents slept.

A neighbor that was moving to a different country gave Inday a larger dog of German Shepard mix.   Gregory, the son, was feeding the dog and it bit him.   The bite became infected.  I insisted that he go to the doctor as he was running a high fever.  I also told them to see if they knew if the dog had been given shots.    No one knew anything about the dog’s shots, so I told Gregory to ask about rabies.    The dog did, in fact, have rabies, so Gregory had to have 2 additional shots a week after the first one for infection.   They were quite expensive.

So, you can see why, with all the medical expenses of well over $1,000 USD, we are in a very needy state.

Now to our current emergency.

Gregory is Inday’s father , the grandfather, was walking by the side of the road this morning.  He was hit by a tricycle and left unconscious by the roadside.  He was taken to Dipolog.   This is a city that is about 2 ½ hours away.   He is needing a scan to find out about the bleeding on the head.

Gregory is on the right

You may ask why we are helping someone who is not a child.   Not only has he helped with no compensation for most of the 11 years that we have operated the children’s home, but he also has often times helped out of his meager resources when children have been in need.

He recently gave the money he had saved for his congestive heart failure medicine to be used for one of the children who had developed an infection.   He has several bad teeth that needed to be pulled.   He took the money he had saved for that and gave it to Inday to buy medicine for Kevin and Leray when they had Dengue Fever so that they could start treatment immediately instead of waiting for it to come from the states.  This early treatment helped keep them out of the hospital.

So that is why we are asking for help.  He has selflessly helped for all these years and it would be wonderful to help him in his time of need.

The most recent update that I have had was this afternoon in Eastern time.   He was in a non-responsive condition.  His right hand was shattered and will need stainless screws to put it back together.   He has a head injury that will require a CT scan to evaluate the damage to the head and to try to find out about the suspected swelling of the brain.

The tricycle driver is being held in jail right now.  He didn’t have lights so that he could see after dark.

In the Philippines, when a person is in the hospital, often a family member or members will stay with them to help with things that are not done by the hospital staff.   In the room where he is right now, the family is not staying in the room due to infection and the severity of his injuries.   To save money so that they have more to help with his treatment and medicine, Inday, Princess, and Gregory’s son, were sleeping in the park under a tree.

If you find it in your heart, your donation would be greatly appreciated.  You can donate through our website.

Thank you for your support and especially your prayers for this worthy situation.

For your information, the funds donated for the building project will be used for that need.  This is a separate need.

One of the men who volunteers at the children’s home, doing heavy work and providing security in times of concern, was bitten by a dog that had no shots or any other type of treatment.

His hand started swelling and within 24 hours, his whole arm was swollen.  I found out about it on Sunday evening my time, when they contacted me to see if I had any suggestions to treat the injury.  When I found out what was going on, I told them it was urgent to get him to the hospital.    He didn’t want to go to get checked because he was afraid of injections.

At the hospital, they told him that it was serious and that they had already had one death that day due to a dog bite.  He will be going back to the hospital for an injection on Monday evening our time and then on Friday with two more shots, one on Tuesday of next week and one on Thursday,

Please pray for his speedy recovery.  He has a high fever and is delirious right now.  His name is Carlito.

Congratulations and many thanks are due to our supporters.

As I total up the donations, through the GoFundMe site, direct donations, and donations through our website, we have now just passed the 50% mark.   Yes, that means we are over halfway to the goal.

It would not happen without our supporters.   I would like to thank each of you for your donations, your support, sharing our project with your friends, and all the other ways you have helped.

I am very confident that we will make our goal in the time allotted by the bank.

You can keep up with the happenings at the children’s home in your Facebook feed by liking and following us on Facebook at  https://www.facebook.com/childrens.hope.90

You may also support the children’s home by going to the following link http://hopehomeandschool.com/index.php/support/

Also, if you share the Facebook postings when you find them interesting, it will help spread the word about our children.

If you would like to hear more about the children’s home, I am available to speak to your church, missions group, or other organization.

 

I would like to update our supporters.   We are now past 25% of our fundraising goal for the purchase of the children’s home property.

The online gofundme campaign has raised some and we have also gotten direct donations that have raised the total past what is reflected online.   Each donation is appreciated in our efforts to help these children.

Did you know that last year over 4 million, that is 4,000,000 children died from starvation?   We may not be able to feed the world, but the ones we help, it can mean the world to them.

Right now, September 13, 2018 there is a super typhoon moving toward and across the Philippines.   From the weather maps, it should stay in the northern portion of the country.   However, there is heavy rain occurring and a number of the villagers have taken shelter in the children’s home building.   The building is not only used for the children, but to help others as needed.   Earlier this year, 35 people were taking shelter in the building for a couple days.    I don’t know how many are staying there right now since communications are down.

We also try to keep emergency supplies on hand for families who have lost everything or need personal care items.   We based it on the Crisis Care Kits distributed by the Nazarene Church in disaster areas.   We pack the following in a 2.5 gallon Ziplock bag:  Shampoo, bars of soap, toothpaste, toothbrushes, band-aids, fingernail clipper, hair comb, hand towels, wash cloths, small packages of facial tissues, small stuffed toy.

These are things that we do in addition to the tasks that we are best known for, that of helping our children.

We have 20 children that need sponsored if you are interested in taking care of a child with monthly sponsorship.

You can keep up with the happenings at the children’s home in your Facebook feed by liking and following us on Facebook at  https://www.facebook.com/childrens.hope.90

You may also support the children’s home by going to the following link http://hopehomeandschool.com/index.php/support/

Also, if you share the Facebook postings when you find them interesting, it will help spread the word about our children.

If you would like to hear more about the children’s home, I am available to speak to your church, missions group, or other organization.

 

We have passed just over one week on our fundraising campaign to purchase the building where the children’s home is located.  You may ask, “Why are you wanting to purchase the building?   Aren’t there other places you can locate?”

The answer is that we wish to purchase this building because it can be purchased for approximately 20% of its value due to special circumstances.   The owner is in default to the bank and we can purchase it for the unpaid balance plus the legal fees for the transfer.   We are in somewhat of a time crunch as the bank has given us a limited time to get this finalized.

I thought I would post an example of what we accomplish at the children’s home with our 100% unpaid volunteers.

WHAT?

Children’s Hope is a children’s home located in the southern Philippines.  We take care of 31 children full-time and 6 part-time by providing

• 1 hot meal a day and snacks before bedtime, in 2017 we served 10,236 meals and sent over 3,000 snack bags home for the children to share so they would have a meal before bedtime.
• Provide school supplies and tutoring and other educational supplies.
• We provide medical assistance as needed. In 2017 there were 3 hospitalizations in addition to the 47 doctor visits.   We paid out over $1,877 in medical expenses.
• Because some of the children were dealing with effects of malnutrition, we also provide vitamin and mineral supplements.
• In the 11 years we have been doing this, we have had 154 children that have passed through the children’s home.
• One of our volunteers is a policewoman that assets us in the intervention of the sexual trafficking that has moved into the area.These children are not orphans, but one or both of their parents are working overseas because there is no work available locally to support their families.

  WHO?

  Children’s Hope is operated by 100% volunteer staff, both in the USA and in the Philippines.

  WHY?

  We have leased the building where we are located for almost 11 years.   The owner has defaulted on the loan payment.  Working with the bank and the owner, we can purchase this for the unpaid balance of his mortgage and legal fees.   To summarize, we can purchase a property worth over $25,000 USD for approximately 1/4th of its value.

  What would it accomplish?

  In addition to the purchase at far below its value, it gives us a permanent building in the center of the area in which we are working.

  In the past, it has been used as a refuge center in severe weather when the local nipa huts were destroyed.

  Funds Needed

  Due to the foreclosure situation, the bank has notified us that we have a limited time to complete the transaction before they must complete the foreclosure.

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  More Information

  You may find more information about Children’s Hope as well as ongoing monthly support options at our website hopehomeandschool.orgor by contacting myself, the Director through a message on gofundme.

• The gofundme page for our building purchase https://www.gofundme.com/childrens-home-purchase

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  Please consider sharing this worthy cause with your friends.