Do you remember seeing all the hullabaloo about Christmas for Payatas? The sites are still up on the internet.
Foundations, public figures, stars of all kinds and many bloggers pushed this event that would be the end all and be all to help those at the garbage dump.
They rolled in, gave the kids t shirts, shorts, sneakers and had them put them on so that they could start shooting the photos. Many pleas were spoken (by what I believe to be some very sincere people) to help these poor kids.
Promises went as follows, 100,000 people would be afforded livelihood programs, 25,000 children will be educated, presents for the kids and on an on. Even "hopes" of providing housing.
Now it's June. I have been trying to find out where the money went. As a Pastor in this community I am thrilled at any attempt to help these people. The videos portray life here very accurately. What is not accurate are the claims to help.
And so I say, "Where's the Money?"
I called ABS-CBN which was portrayed as a sponsor. They denied having anything to do with the project. I showed them the photo of Ms Agabulos holding up the t shirt and taking the photo. I was told that she did not know what it was for. Sharp reporting. By the way, you can go here to see the connection:http://lighthouseforchildren.org/features . Scroll to the bottom to see the lady that did not know she was supporting the cause. By the way, if these pages are removed, email me, I have saved them.
Fusion Excel is another supporter. I tried to contact the Owner, Paul Ting who coincidentally is the brother of Matthew Ting the owner of Tote Daddy. I also tried to contact Matthew on a number of occasions. I received no replies from anyone of these sponsors.
The Lighthouse International website has been suspended but I was finally able to get someone in the QuezonCity office of Lighthouse (a sponsor of the project) They could not tell me where the money had gone nor could they put me in touch with someone who knew.
They did give me the phone number for the treasurer of the Rotary Club who was extremely helpful. The Rotary overseas a building that is owned by??? that houses the preschool at the dump. They have had no electricity for a while and are badly in need of repairs. She told me someone else is in charge of repairs and she just handled the money to feed the kids and run the school.
Are you getting tired yet? Thirty years at the dump site where nothing has changed.
Now go to our websites: http://www.savepayatas.com -http://www.payatasbaptistchurch.org -http://www.payatasmissionoutreach.org
At the Church web site you can click on updates to see what we have done for three years.
Did you happen to notice that this is the only follow up web info for Christmas For Payatas? How come no one is shouting the good news of accomplishments? Because there are none.
Also at the Church site you can click to go to our Multiply site where we have almost 4000 photos of our work. All this was accomplished with very little money. Imagine what we would have done with the $81,000.00 plus US Dollars collected by Christmas For Payatas. Imagine if we had movie stars and politicians and bloggers blogging for us.
It's not too late. Come give to our cause and we will show you where the money goes.
May God bless your generous hearts and guide you to make intelligent choices.
Pastor Jack Wilson
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