A year & a half ago, a few of us met in Manila to begin working to change the lives of Street Children through love ... we began with Zero $ and no staff or facilities ... everyone was a volunteer & we called it I Love Street Children. I challenged people with the vision, EJ Pascua chose the name and made the ILSC Facebook Page & I flooded it with photos (we now have 12,800 members on that page). We began to gather children and their broken parents from Borgos Street (Red Light District in Makati), and May Gomez found a house to rent for the people. Volunteers from Manila & foreigners working in the Philippines began bringing rice and food for the people. Then, my incredible wife, Diane Thomas, spent time with the all volunteer band at the home to help get it organized, and Attorney Althea Acas Pareno began to help us. I then met Nick Conneff from England and asked him to go to Bogo, Northern Cebu, to help begin a home for the street children there. He moved there for a few months, saw the pain of the children, and now spends half of his life (if not more) for these kids. Then, God laid on the hearts of my wife & I that we needed to begin an international nonprofit to oversee this work and raise funds for it. And our son in law, Anthony Matula came up with the name while reading poetry by T.S. Elio - Humanility because its Humility that connects us with the rest of Humanity, realizing that It could be me in the streets or in any other difficult circumstance. Or, it could be me who works to help them and change their lives. He and our daughter, Laura Matula, built our website, and Rob Harvey of Nashville worked with us to get us our tax-deductible status through his foundation called Good Neighbor. We created a super qualified international board of directors to give us transparency, integrity, and the skill set to build something wonderful for people who need it. Next, our dear friend from Butuan, Dr. Dick Estacio, asked us to take on the partnership of a 3rd home that they had begun for 27 homeless, abandoned boys. My beloved Diane flew to Manila this month and just registered Humanility Philippines with the SEC, and we added the amazing Joel Garcia on our board there, along with Dick and Atty Althea. Back in the USA, I met a man named George Lentini, and he now works for Humanility for free (like all of us) aside from his full time job, and by all of us working together, in our first 4 months, we have 11 children & 1 family sponsored ... we just need 50 - 60 more sponsors by Christmas. So much good is happening every week ... well try to keep you updated. Today, I wanted to honor our entire Board, and Diane Thomas, Eiselle Pascua, May Gomez, Nick Conneff, Althea Acas Pareno, George Lentini, Joel Garcia, Dick Estacio, Alehneh Pablo, Cherry M.D. Sumeli, Cris Falkenstein, and all of the volunteers who are working so hard to create a world where Every Human Being is Loved, Valued, and Given a Chance to Reach Their Full God Given Potential. Though the pain, the loss, the fears, and difficult times, YOU are the Brave ... always remember Fear is Not welcome here .... Love is Always going to win the fight! Thanks for the great song, VERIDIA!
Posted on: Tue, 28 Oct 2014 16:25:25 +0000
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