More Donated Books

Our gratitude goes out to Sir Ian and Ma'am Joy Horton for their generous donation of books to the Sua Elementary School.  These will be a great help to the student's education!!  Give Children Hope is working towards delivering more books to the Maravilla School soon.

A sweet note of appreciation from the school:

This little girl is in the Pre-school class . She goes to school on her wheelchair with her 2 aunts helping her.  One Auntie has to stay and be with her all the time while the other Auntie helps in the preparation/cooking of meals for the children that Give Children Hope is providing to these 340 students every single day.  I gave her the sketch pad, coloring pencils, and a story book so she will also have something to do while her classmates are playing and running around before the classes start.  Sadly she can never participate in their playtime fun so we hope this can be her way of having fun before classes.

Meals at School Program (Sept. 21st Photos)

Here are some recent photos of the food being prepared and served to the children of Sua Elementary School.  As you can see, the children and parents alike seem to be working together and spirits seem to be high because of the warm meals daily that keep the students from going hungry.  The school continues to report great things about the Meals at School program and sights it as being responsible for  better grades and motivation among the students.

Our Outreach to Brazil

Give Children Hope was able to bring some food and supplies to an orphanage located in Port Alegre, Brazil recently.  This is the second visit to this orphanage and we hope to have many more.  GCH is also supplying several dozen families with food baskets regularly to keep them from going hungry.

Nanette Demesa...A Grateful and Hard-Working Mother

This is Nanette Demesa a mother of 7 children, and a housewife. She is one of the mothers who we can always count on to help with the Meals @ School Program of Give Children Hope. While waiting for the break time of the students to have their meals, I was able to talk to her.  Her husband is a fisherman in the nearby river where they live. He is earning a minimum of 70 pesos per day (less than 2 dollars) with his catch after selling them to his neighbours.  And because he sells them he has less fish for his family to eat. With this money they can buy 2 kilos of rice. And this is for a 2 meal consumption of the family per day.

They are so grateful for the program of Give Children Hope Meals @ School everyday.  It helps them out a lot. She has 3 children who benefit from it.  Before the program, going to school her children would only have a cup of coffee and would be so happy if there was a piece of pandesal (bread) that went with it, but because of the everyday Meals @ School program, her children go home with a full stomach.  So instead of cooking 1 kilo of rice for the entire family for lunch, she only cooks ¾ kilo so she saves ¼ kilo a day.  This is a big saving for her family.

Her grade 2 son has improved his health and has gained a kilo already… from 14 now he weighs 15 kilos. This is the mother who always comes with her 4 year old son who also enjoys the meals. Her eldest daughter is now 4th year in High School and when asked what her plans are, she said she’ll work after graduating from high school... no hope to be in college.  It is not in their minds because life is so hard for them.  Hopefully we can change that misconception with our giving and our support.

Our Representative, Kristina, Has Gotten Married!

Our Filipino Representative, Kristina, recently has gotten married and wanted to express her appreciation to all the sponsors for their support.  She too was a benefactor of your support through Give Children Hope, and she has excelled in her education and in her personal life.  We want to congratulate her and wish her the best of luck in her new adventure!  Down below is a letter she has sent out for all the sponsors to see:

Dear Sponsors,

We thank you all for your love, prayers, and support to us during our preparation until our temple wedding day last August 31, 2012.

It was such a simple yet a spiritual, lovely, blissful, and wonderful day for the both of us especially with you around. (We can't even explain the overflowing feeling we had that day)

Words are surely not enough to thank you all for your kindness but please know that we have extended our prayers of good health and prosperity to you and your families, may you all be blessed hundredfold.

To pay everything forward is our promise as husband and wife so that others will also feel the same love and happiness you made us feel.

Being a former sponsored child of Give Children Hope, I am so happy to let you know about the milestones in my life. I am the one who writes to you every month to share the thoughts of the children you sponsor through the Meals at School Program of Give Children Hope. This organization has helped  me a lot during those times when I was in much need of food and in need to go to school. We look forward to the day to meet you all and thank you personally.

We love you.

Murphy & Kristina Lou Nobles

Our Future is as Bright as our Faith

Boxes of Donated Goods Have Arrived!

Mid-August, the students at Sua Elementary School were thrilled to find boxes and boxes of donated goods that had arrived just for them.  These boxes contained school supplies, books, dishes, shoes, clothes and many other important items.  Our representative, Don Cooper and his wife and many friends, were responsible for putting this all together and our sincere appreciation goes out to them for their hard work.  More boxes are scheduled to arrive soon and we look forward to the positive changes that these supplies will make in these children's lives.

Happy August!

Dear Sponsors and Friends of Give Children Hope,

How has your past month been? We've been hit by several typhoons in July and many cities were left flooded. There were a number of deaths reported and properties destroyed. It is always expected that the following months beginning in June will be the start of the rainy season. We don't have just rainy days but typhoon and flooded days. Classes are being cancelled in these particular situations.

I am glad that my town is not really being left flooded after heavy rains or typhoons. There's a creek within my town which is the only reason why some areas become flooded. I can say that the children in my town are blessed.

In these inclement weather conditions, I can't help but to always think about the situations in the area of Sua Elementary School and Maravilla Elementary Schools where our sponsored children have their Meals at School programs.

As you have seen from our Give Children Hope Facebook page, the area of Sua Elementary School has a river which causes flood to the entire school during hightide, and even more during typhoon? I have seen how the students, parents and teachers help each other be in comfort as they sweep away the waters that have reached their classrooms.

You can see that they still have smiles on their faces even though they are in this difficult situation. These kids, being Filipinos are small in stature but they have the strength to deal with these kinds of situations. I also think about the parents as they prepare the meals for the students.

During rainy days, they can't cook outside, so they have to deals with the smoke and heat as they prepare the food inside a room or sometimes on the pavement where there is a small portion of roof to cover them.

This is how much these children and parents are willing to do individual efforts to help the Meals at School program of Give Children Hope. I know that the Meals at School Program has blessed the lives of their children so this is how much they are willing to exert effort to keep this program running. It has made the children in Sua and Maravilla healthier with these critical meals. It has made them have a better grasp of what they are being taught in school as they become more focus, no more hungry stomachs while paying attention to their teachers.

Flooded School Grounds

Trying to Make-do with their Surroundings

Our Wonderful Parents that Help with the Cooking

Preparing Meals

Happy and Healthy Students

Your every dollar donation for the Meals at School Program of Give Children Hope has been blessing the lives of these children. It goes directly to feed these 600 plus students in these remote parts of the Philippines. We are so thankful for your help to these children, for making them feel loved and for extending your hands as they go through this critical stage in their lives.

Well, this month is the celebration of the "Buwan ng Wika" or National Language Month. I am sure that all the kids will be very very busy as this celebration is one of the most awaited. Every grade level will join contests, participate in school programs, and do all other things as their own schools celebrate this occasion This will give them another reason to be proud of their native tongue and learn and appreciate it more. It is so sweet to think that these children will be busy again sharing their talents and interacting with their schoolmates. Thank you for being part in the important events in these children's lives.

Please do visit our facebook page at facebook.com/givechildrenhope and our blogspot atgivechildrenhope.blogspot.com for more updates and pictures of the feeding. Take a glance at those smiles and happy faces as they enjoy the mealst you provide for them.

We love you and thank you for your willingness to help us run the Meals at School Program of Give Children Hope.

Kristina Lou Sunico For the sponsored children
 Give Children Hope, Philippines