Humanility 4 Month Anniversary Inventory

Humanility exists to emancipate, educate, and empower survivors of poverty, atrocity, tragedy, and slavery, and it all begins with U. We are serious about creating a culture of community with mutuality of vision, goals, and ownership. Effective communication is an essential element for building this, and we will do our best to provide regular reports to you, our incredible partners. Thanksgiving weekend marked the 4-month anniversary of Humanility, and we have so much for which we are grateful. With an attitude of gratitude, in celebration of U – the community that makes this all possible, we want to share this inventory of progress and reasons for the giving of thanks. As you will see, our community is growing and taking ownership of this vital life-changing work. 

During our first two months, we were able to meet all of the legal and organizational requirements to align Humanility under the organizational umbrella of Good Neighbor Foundation in Nashville to gain tax-deductible status for our donors. We also finalized our Mission, Vision, and Values, and obtained all of the apps, equipment, and service of a CPA to build an easy to use platform to enable you, our community, to sponsor a child, empower a family, or partner in a project with one time or recurring gifts. We are so grateful to Rob and Mary Elizabeth Harvey and Good Neighbor Foundation for their essential partnership and kindness. Humanility also gives thanks for friends, family, and board members, Allison, Jens, and Paul, who donated funds for legal registrations in two countries and for establishing the shelter homes.

During this early stage of our history, we also recruited an incredible board to create synergy and keep us accountable and transparent. We began to add international representatives and reached out to Anthony and Laura Matula of MA2LA to create our unique name, brand design, and website. We are so grateful to have had such a renowned team of professionals for this vital aspect of our Humanility launch. We are filled with thanksgiving for Eiselle Pascua, May Gomez, and Cris Rodriguez - our partners from the very beginning in establishing the I Love Street Children Movement and our first street survivor shelter in Manila. Humanility is also grateful for Nick Conneff from Manchester, UK, who has given much of his time to develop the beginnings of our second street child shelter and empowerment program in Bogo, Cebu. During our second month, George Lentini from N.J. volunteered to spend time in our Manila and Bogo, Cebu shelter homes, and he came to love our precious street survivors. He has dedicated much of his time as a volunteer to help us improve our organization and financial systems. He also created our bios with photos of the children and families who need sponsors in our Manila and Bogo homes. One of the values of Humanility is community - we truly want to share the creation of this organization with U and work together to change many lives. During the next few weeks, we will feature first hand stories from people like Eiselle, May, Cris, Nick and George, as well as from our Shelter Home Caretakers, Cherry, Alehneh, and Sister Fatima, who dedicate their lives to caring for the children every day with love and compassion.

During the past two months, we have focused on developing our homes in the Philippines. Our dear friend, Dr. Claudio (DIck) Estacio and the Rotary Club of Butuan established a home for abandoned boys in Butuan City, and asked us to partner with them to find sponsors for the boys and continue to develop their home, "Balay Silunganan" (Cebuano for "House of Refuge"). Our cofounder and president, Diane Thomas has spent the last 6 weeks in our three homes in Manila, Bogo - Cebu, and Butuan City - Mindanao, working with our staff in each home and solidifying the organizational and financial accountability of our operations in each home. We are very grateful for our incredible attorney, Althea Acas Pareno, in Manila for working so hard to register Humanility Org Inc. with the SEC as a Philippine organization that partners with Humanility, USA. Attorney Althea also gives of her private time and resources to help the children in our homes, and serves on our board with Dr. Estacio and Joel Garcia - we are so thankful for these wonderful leaders who care about the abandoned and disenfranchised street survivors of the Philippines. Joey Manili has also served faithfully, and a new volunteer, Ayumi from Japan, is translating our website into Japanese and spends time regularly at our ILSC home in Makati. The number of volunteers is growing - there are many in Manila who deserve Humanility accolades.  

Humanility is committed to creating community and developing the life and work skills of the adult and teenage street survivors whom we serve, to empower them to create a successful, sustainable future. Diane Thomas, who is also the CEO and designer of Bybella - Jewelry with a purpose, has begun to train two of the residents of our Manila home - Philtranco and Marnily, and this new social entrepreneurial business is changing their lives and raising funds to emancipate, educate, and empower more street survivors. We are grateful to Ikit Mendoza Sebastian, Nina Estacio Tan, and Al Gonzales for donating time to develop the marketing of this jewelry in the Philippines. Every week, more and more volunteers in Manila visit our ILSC home to bring food and gifts to the children and to show them love and compassion. Our street survivors often struggle with health issues, and we are eternally grateful to doctors like Serah Kae Laquindanum and her team from St Lukes hospital, as well as Dr. Eric Marife and his wife Pia who also teaches the children on Saturdays. All these wonderful people make our street survivors feel loved and valued for the first time in their lives, and this is what makes the experience life-changing for both receiver and giver.

We are only four months old and have had 15 of our children gain sponsors. Sponsors gives $40.00 monthly to provide housing, food, clothing, medicine, and education for a specific child. Those who sponsor a child, receive their bio and photos, and can even set up Skype sessions to get to know them and share in the development of their lives. We are grateful for all of our new sponsors and for board member, Scott Weissman who is working hard to raise up more sponsors. We urgently need 40 more sponsors by the end of 2014 to make up the finances that are lacking to provide for the present number of children in our three homes. We are also in dialogue with another home in Cagayan de Oro, Mindanao for disabled orphans to develop a partnership with them and gain more sponsors for the 25 children there, and work with them for further future development. There are great needs in Tacloban and Tanauan, Leyte, where many children lost their homes and parents when Typhoon Haiyan devastated their cities last year, and are now living in the streets. Not only are many children there homeless, hungry, and hopeless, but are in danger of abuse and human trafficking. To expand to meet these needs, we just need to invite more of U to join our community and accept ownership, with us, of the responsibility for abandoned children and street survivors of the world who need to be loved, valued, and given a chance to live their potential. Gratitude, accountability, and community - these are the focus of our four month inventory, and it all begins and continues with U.