ongoing project: rice for a family

Meet of the family of Maricel Desmopanes, widow, 38 years old. When her husband died in December last year she was left behind pregnant, impoverished and alone to support and raise eight (8) children.

Since Typhoon Yolanda ripped through their lives two years ago some of my friends and family made one-off donations to assist with the medical expenses of her husband, school supplies to encourage the children to stay in school and the hospital bill when the baby was delivered in May this year.

Now with sponsorship provided by Howard and Marilyn Penn (friends of my parents), Maricel and her family will receive a sack of rice every month until at least February 2017.  On the 14th and 28th of the month a half-sack of rice will be delivered to Maricel. If you have been following the projects you might recall a loan provided for a livelihood project, the rice will be purchased from that store in an effort to support the fledgling business.

The sponsorship of this family comes at a time when Maricel had sold a blanket for food for her kids. Her son was using a tiny bamboo raft to try to catch fish after school and Maricel herself was so skeletal because she was not eating so the kids would have a little more.

I am so grateful for all the donors and sponsors out there who support the people here. Sadly, the story of Maricel is one of hundreds and hundreds of thousands here in the Philippines, anyone interested in sponsoring a family, please drop me a line.