When one year comes to an end, everyone takes time to reflect on their lives, everything they’ve accomplished and everything they hope to do in the new year. The GoAbroad Foundation is no different; we are filled with contemplation, and always looking forward to new projects, new partners, and new opportunities to support people in the way they need it most!
To show you just how much of a difference our Take the Pledge initiative has made in 2016, here are all the projects we were able to support with our pledges this year!
January – Scholarship Support
Pledge donations helped us provide supplemental transportation support for college scholars living in rural areas. Though daily transportation costs an average of $1, this amount multiplied by the number of school days in a week amounts to almost half a week of wages for some families.
February – #Give10forEd Challenge
Again, our pledges supported education in the Philippines. Since sponsors sometimes have to abruptly stop support of their child for personal or financial reasons, we contributed to the back up fund so no child loses support in the middle of the school year.
March – Pangea Educational Development
Our trusted partners in Uganda, with a homebase in Illinois, made great strides in bringing technology to their beneficiaries this year. Our pledge support helped continue their mission to share solar powered internet kiosks with rural schools.
April – Rice Subsidy Program
Each month we distribute rice subsides to over 40 families in the Philippines. As the major staple in every Filipinos diet, having rice is essential for families to secure 3 meals a day for their children. Additionally, our Rice Subsidy Program provides rice for our Weekend Feeding Program, when we cook up nearly 10 pounds of rice!
May – Earthquake Relief
When earthquakes struck multiple countries around the world, from Myanmar to Ecuador, our pledges helped us spring into action and support survivors. Pledge contributions were added to our fund to help survivors, which was donated to a local organization focused on rebuilding homes in Ecuador.
June – Patoc High School Fundraiser
Located in an isolated community far from major cities and access to modern day technology, Patoc High School was blessed with computers this year. However, their facilities were limited to accommodate this new educational tool. Pledges helped us provide desks, fans, and even books to add to their new computer lab.
July – Scholarship Fund
Scholarships continue to be one of our greatest needs and highest priorities throughout the year. Hence, as the new school year began in June, we once again devoted our pledges to our scholarship fund for college students in the Philippines.
August – Baale Mane
In partnership with an organization supporting young women in India, our pledges helped provide new clothes for college students. With a fresh set of clothes, college students have a boost to their self-esteem and new confidence in their abilities, empowering them in their quest for higher education.
September – Build A Home in Ecuador
As our Ecuador earthquake fundraising came to a close, pledges were added to donations sent to a local organization with plans of building a home for a widowed mother of three. Though construction regulations are challenging to overcome, construction of the family’s home will begin in early 2017.
October – Hope Bilingual Academy
Supporting dozens of local students out of the goodness of her own heart, and taking from her own pocket as needed along the way, our October pledges helped support an incredible woman’s quest to support education in Guatemala.
November – Supplemental Feeding Program
Week after week our Supplemental Feeding Program supplies around 100 children with a tasty, nutritious meal and snack on the weekends. To ensure we can continue this program in 2017, we devoted our November pledges to our feeding program, jump-starting our fundraising drive.
December – Holiday Celebrations
The year wouldn’t be complete without celebrating all we have accomplished with the communities we serve. Giving our beneficiaries in the Philippines a very happy holidays has become a tradition, and our December pledges helped us prepare for our annual community Christmas Party.
Bring Hope in the New Year
As 2016 comes to a close and we look forward to all that 2017 has in store for us, we’d like to ask you to share our Take the Pledge initiative with your network. Now that you’ve seen all we can do with a simple monthly pledge, we hope you are eager to share this opportunity with others interested in donating a little each month, while doing a lot all at the same time.
To give you an idea of what our pledges will help support in 2017, here are some of our upcoming projects and initiatives:
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Building a New Home for a Family in the Philippines – After their home was destroyed during Typhoon Haiyan in 2013, this single Dad has made do with a home built from scrap materials. However, sitting directly next to a highway and on the public school’s land, he needs a more permanent home to raise his children and granddaughter in. In 2017, our partner in the Philippines will build this family a new home.
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Mother’s Microfinance Support – One of our partners established a financial planning and management group for mothers in 2014. Since then, the group has pooled funds to save and invest both together and independently. Focused on financial education, in 2017, we’d like to help propel this group forward by assisting with providing trainings and capital for their small business dreams.
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New Partnerships & Stories to Share – There are sure to be new partnerships to be had and stories to be shared in 2017, which we have not had the pleasure of learning more about just yet. But, there is no doubt that we will be extending our reach to support more projects that help people in the ways they need it most in the new year.