Shoes for Poor Filipino Children

Happy Thanksgiving!!! On this day of giving thanks, 2204 Filipino children were blessed with new pairs of Flip Flops (Tsinelas) made possible by generous donors from the USA, Australia and Ireland through our partnership with Seeds of Dignity Ministries, Inc. The Tsinelas were distributed to three (3) elementary schools in Iriga City, Camarines Sur: 1058 to San Isidro Elementary, 854 to Perpetual Help Elementary, and 292 to Don Lazaro Madara Elementary. Please continue to support this good cause by making a small donation at www.gofundme.com/eddievega. Your donation is tax deductible and 100% will go towards purchasing the Tsinelas. The next planned distributions will take place in the provinces of Leyte and Davao. Thank you and God Bless!

To all my supporters: On May 15th , the Barefoot Bandito will attempt to run the "The Great Wall of China Marathon" ( http://www.conquerthewallmarathon.com/) completely barefoot for 42 Kilometers. The race course has 20,518 countable steps throughout varied terrain along the length of the race as it traverses through secluded and rarely visited sections of the Great Wall. I am doing this to create awareness for the 300+ million children worldwide who cannot afford shoes and to raise money to buy 2,000 pairs of Tsinelas (Flip Flops) for a scheduled distribution in the Province of Bicol, Philippines, on August 24 & 25, 2016. A good quality pair of Tsinelas will cost about 45 pesos or almost 1 US dollar. Please support this good cause by making a small donation at www.gofundme/eddievega. Your donation is tax deductible and 100% will go towards purchasing the Tsinelas. If I end up raising more than $2,000 I will schedule additional distributions to include other Philippine provinces. Thank you and God Bless!

Hello My Supporters!

I am pleased to report that I successfully completed two shoe distributions this past week in the Philippines with the help of a local non-profit organization, Seeds of Dignity Ministries. Thank you so much for your support and generous donations for making these shoe distributions a reality and helping improve the lives of impoverished Filipino children.

The first distribution of 120 pairs of new black shoes took place at San Antonio Elementary School in a very remote village accessible only by a 3 kilometer hike on a single track mountainous trail. And, of course, true to my namesake as the Barefoot Bandito, I hiked the trail barefoot to experience what these villagers go through on a daily basis that I only do as a recreational activity. I must admit that these villagers have much tougher feet than I do! Imagine carrying a 50 lb sack of rice, slabs of meat, and canned goods for 3 kilometers one-way up and down a steep mountain on muddy slippery and rocky trails. Then imagine that you forgot the gallon of milk and having to go back the same trail and back again for another 6 kilometer roundtrip? After this experience, I will never complain to my wife about having to get the groceries from the car 

The second distribution of 130 pairs of new rubber boots took place at the Marilog High School in Datu Salumay, Marilog District, Davao City. Most of the recipients of the boots are tribal children, otherwise referred to as Indigenous People, who walk about 3 to 9 kilometers to school each way on hilly and often times muddy terrain. The boots will be used by the students for in-school use for the agriculture and horticulture classes, particularly as they work on the Demo Farm at the school site. Note that approximately 125 kids at the school were classified as being malnourished and are also recipients of a feeding program with resources coordinated by Seeds of Dignity and managed by the school.

In a few hours I will be flying back to the US and I look forward to going back home and enjoying the comforts of the American way of life that we sometimes take for granted.

God Bless you all!!!

Eddie "Barefoot Bandito" Vega