Project Bare Feet
https://withinreachglobal.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/GEDC3977.jpg 800 600 Within Reach Global Within Reach Global https://withinreachglobal.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/GEDC3977.jpgThis project has been 100% funded!
Thank you so much for your generous donations! Check out Project Bare Feet photos of Facebook, and continue to pray for opportunities to bless these children.
We need your help to buy 125 pairs of shoes for poor children in Bulacan, Philippines asap. Let’s make this a reality for these precious kids before their graduation from elementary school on March 28th! An easy $12 will buy a new pair of shoes and 3 pairs of socks for each child. Ponder that as you read their stories below.
Project Bare Feet
A new Within Reach Global ministry
In partnership with Ako Ay Pilipino Movement
As my 4 year old son and I walked down the busy street on the way to the market in Francisco Homes, Bulacan, he commented about the children walking to school. They were wearing tattered slippers, and many were even barefoot. “Mommy, why don’t those kids have shoes?” my son asked me. “Why are they barefoot?”
The childlike amazement of his statement touched my heart. I thought to myself, “What if my kids were in the same situation?” I couldn’t help thinking what I would do.
Something rose up inside me. I told myself, “Something needs to be done right now to help these children.”
Later that day, I stopped by Francisco Homes Elementary School near the market, and found the guidance counselor of the school. He told me that there were 3,500 students attending the school. I looked around and, to my despair, I saw barefoot children everywhere. Only a few of them had flip flops on, and those were already ragged and destroyed.
Some of the students studying in the elementary school spent their entire lives living in garbage dumps. When they weren’t at school, they spent their day scrounging for food and clothing with their impoverished parents. Their parents work as tricycle drivers, house helpers, construction workers, and scavengers, and so were unable to provide for their children’s needs.
Lanie Payas is 13 years old and currently in 2nd grade. She lives in Barangay Kaypian, and is the 3rd born of 6 siblings. Her father is a casserole maker, and her mother sells bread. Her family survives on less than $50 a month. Lanie is one of hundreds of students in Francisco Homes Elementary School living in severe poverty. She helps care for her siblings while her mother sells pandesal bread in the morning. Although she attends school, she is forced to wear frayed and threadbare clothing and flip flops because it’s all they can afford. Some of the kids at school tease her about her family’s poor conditions.
Elija Balo is 8 years old and is a 2nd grade student. His father is a construction worker and his mother is a typical housewife. He goes to school everyday, but because of the financial condition of his family, he does not have a normal childhood. His dream is simple. He wants to have a descent house and wear a pair of shoes.
Alfred Toledo, a 10 year old 1st grade student. He is 15th among 21 siblings. His father is a gardener and his mother is a vegetable vendor. His daily 5 pesos allowance is not enough for him to buy food. Alfred helps his mother by taking care of his younger sibling before going to school. His dream is to have plenty of food on their table.
These children are a few of the hundreds of students living in poverty at Francisco Homes Elementary School. They desperately want to pursue their studies, but their families can not afford to further their education.
It just tears me up inside to see these precious children trying to cope. They are constantly being bullied for being poor, and most suffer from rejection on a regular basis.
So here’s what we want to do.
We want to provide 125 pairs of brand new shoes for barefoot children in Bulacan.
We need your help! You won’t believe how inexpensive these shoes actually are. An easy $12 will buy shoes and three pairs of socks for these 125 impoverished students!
Will you help them? How can we say no?
We need a total of $1,500 by March 28th to buy 75 pairs of boys shoes and 50 pairs of girls shoes in time for their elementary graduation. What a joy it will be to see these children’s faces shining as they walk proudly in their new shoes!
Poverty is a major obstacle to the success of our future Filipino generation. I believe that God has called all of us who live in comfort to reach out to those who are less fortunate.
I pray that you are stirred to action by this simple plea. Thank you for your help!
