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Asking for money is sometimes difficult.
Fortunately, giving is one of the most rewarding opportunities we have been given.
As most of you know, my sister and I have travelled halfway across the world to the Philippines to give our time and energy to a ministry that our family and over the years, even our friends have been assisting since about 2001. The ministry is called Arise and Rebuild Ministries. The focus of the ministry is to help people to grow in Christ and in The Church while trying to help parents provide for their families, and strongly assisting in schooling for the children. These families are often the product of broken homes, death due to illness, or simply inability to provide on their own. (Not all of them)
To put it into perspective for you, most people (with college degrees AND IF they can find a job) make around 300 pesos per day, which is the equivalent to $6.50 in the US. This means that each month, people who have DECENT jobs are making barely more than $120 per month. This is supposed to provide food, clean drinking water, education, and living expenses for them and their families. You can see how this is nearly impossible.
To make matters worse, because of bacteria, the water is unsafe to drink. Right now, during typhoon season, Malaria, Tuberculosis, Dengue Fever and all of the similarities are being increasingly transmitted. Unfortunately, many, many people are unable to afford healthcare for not only themselves, but also their children. These lead to sickness, organ failure, and if not treated, death.
The ministry tries its best to provide healthcare to everyone they can with their budget, but right now they are unable to provide for even some of the basic healthcare needs because of the increasing demand. Furthermore, there are some members in need of heart surgery, cancer treatment, prescriptions, glasses, and much much more.
In the three weeks that we have been here, we have made over 5 visits to the hospital for multiple different illnesses. Here are just three examples of what it takes to provide healthcare and the issues we have seen so far. The first was for a college student who had to have an emergency appendectomy. The cost of this was around 67,895 pesos, which was $1,697. There is a balance of $675 remaining on this families’ hospital bill. The second was my sister, who we took in as soon as she began feeling ill. Luckily it was just a simple virus, and the cost of the appointment and the prescription together was only about $25. Lastly, there was another college student who went in with the belief that he had Dengue or Measles. Right now, the doctors believe it is just a virus, but will keep an eye on him. The cost of this appointment was 250 pesos or $5. The prescription will be about $40. These families were not and are not able to pay the cost of these medical bills, so often, they come to the ministry for help.
In an effort to help relieve some of the cost of these medical bills, and to allow the ministry to continue to grow and financially contribute in other basic areas of need such as food and water, we have opted to do a "Go Fund Me".
The cost to provide medical care for one student is less than what many of us in the United States make in one hour. We are asking for your support in helping some of the closest people in our families’ hearts to afford basic medical care. Our goal is to raise $5000 for an emergency medical relief fund, but any support that you can offer will benefit those who need help.
Thank you for supporting our cause, Jake and Kristen
P.S. If you would like to commit monthly assistance to the Philippines to help the ministry, or an individual, please message me on Facebook and we can give you further details. Also, if you would like to donate, but are wanting a tax write off also, message me and we can make it happen.
Fortunately, giving is one of the most rewarding opportunities we have been given.
As most of you know, my sister and I have travelled halfway across the world to the Philippines to give our time and energy to a ministry that our family and over the years, even our friends have been assisting since about 2001. The ministry is called Arise and Rebuild Ministries. The focus of the ministry is to help people to grow in Christ and in The Church while trying to help parents provide for their families, and strongly assisting in schooling for the children. These families are often the product of broken homes, death due to illness, or simply inability to provide on their own. (Not all of them)
To put it into perspective for you, most people (with college degrees AND IF they can find a job) make around 300 pesos per day, which is the equivalent to $6.50 in the US. This means that each month, people who have DECENT jobs are making barely more than $120 per month. This is supposed to provide food, clean drinking water, education, and living expenses for them and their families. You can see how this is nearly impossible.
To make matters worse, because of bacteria, the water is unsafe to drink. Right now, during typhoon season, Malaria, Tuberculosis, Dengue Fever and all of the similarities are being increasingly transmitted. Unfortunately, many, many people are unable to afford healthcare for not only themselves, but also their children. These lead to sickness, organ failure, and if not treated, death.
The ministry tries its best to provide healthcare to everyone they can with their budget, but right now they are unable to provide for even some of the basic healthcare needs because of the increasing demand. Furthermore, there are some members in need of heart surgery, cancer treatment, prescriptions, glasses, and much much more.
In the three weeks that we have been here, we have made over 5 visits to the hospital for multiple different illnesses. Here are just three examples of what it takes to provide healthcare and the issues we have seen so far. The first was for a college student who had to have an emergency appendectomy. The cost of this was around 67,895 pesos, which was $1,697. There is a balance of $675 remaining on this families’ hospital bill. The second was my sister, who we took in as soon as she began feeling ill. Luckily it was just a simple virus, and the cost of the appointment and the prescription together was only about $25. Lastly, there was another college student who went in with the belief that he had Dengue or Measles. Right now, the doctors believe it is just a virus, but will keep an eye on him. The cost of this appointment was 250 pesos or $5. The prescription will be about $40. These families were not and are not able to pay the cost of these medical bills, so often, they come to the ministry for help.
In an effort to help relieve some of the cost of these medical bills, and to allow the ministry to continue to grow and financially contribute in other basic areas of need such as food and water, we have opted to do a "Go Fund Me".
The cost to provide medical care for one student is less than what many of us in the United States make in one hour. We are asking for your support in helping some of the closest people in our families’ hearts to afford basic medical care. Our goal is to raise $5000 for an emergency medical relief fund, but any support that you can offer will benefit those who need help.
Thank you for supporting our cause, Jake and Kristen
P.S. If you would like to commit monthly assistance to the Philippines to help the ministry, or an individual, please message me on Facebook and we can give you further details. Also, if you would like to donate, but are wanting a tax write off also, message me and we can make it happen.