Dear friends and family,

Welcome to the latest edition of IT Tender's newsletter. May you be inspired by these updates and stories of the transformation happening right here in our community in Manila, Philippines.

How 20 Filipino Youth are Bringing Joy to 300 Street Kids
This year, out of deep gratitude, the youth from our child sponsorship program have given so much by striving hard in their studies and even volunteering at our charity and our church. 20 of these youth are now organizing and leading an epic Christmas party to be held November 30th in Manila, and they hope to invite up to 300 street kids to the event!

Through a promotional video made by the youth (including a song they performed and recorded themselves), they want to shown us that, regardless of who you are or what you have, everyone can offer something back to God and to bless others.

Now, you and I also have the opportunity to treat a street child in Manila to an incredible Christmas party with plenty of food, presents, games and songs. For a donation of just $10, a street child will be able to celebrate with us at this year's "Nativity"-themed Christmas party organized by the youth.

To donate online, click here and select "IT Tender General Fund" as the designation. All one-time donations to our general fund in the month of November will go towards this Christmas party for the street kids. For other ways to donate, contact John coffey via email at john.coffey@iteams.ca

Here is the video the youth made encouraging us to support this epic event... (credit also to Jam Coffey for directing the video for the youth)

IT Tender Christmas Party 2018 VideoWe're proud of these youth for using and developing their musical talents to record the Christmas classic "Little Drummer Boy" used in the video above. This is the perfect song for their video, because they can personally relate to the little drummer boy. The song tells the story of people bringing gifts to Jesus when He was born. The drummer boy didn't have a gift, but he offered his talent and his effort in playing a song for Jesus. Similarly, the youth offer their skills and talents to God in their studies and in their volunteerism at the ministry.

Thank you for your compassionate support in helping the youth reach their goal to bless 300 street children through this wonderful party.

The Tender Team Rising to the Next Level

The IT Tender staff will be quite busy over the next 6 months as we prepare to apply for a license with the Department of Social Welfare and Development. This is a big deal for us, as with this license we can attend a number of free seminars and conferences, and we'll also have a stronger reputation in the community. However, we need to cope up with a number of requirements first. These requirements include providing basic benefits for our staff (e.g., health care), keeping more comprehensive records of every child in our care, and ensuring each of our full-time staff receive compensation of at least minimum wage. Of course, we aim to provide all of these and more, regardless of the licensing requirements. However, as a non-profit, non-government organization, we depend on donations to cover the benefits and salaries of our staff. As of now, IT Tender's support is not enough to cover these essential needs.

In reality, our Filipino missionaries at IT Tender willingly volunteer regardless of health care or support. However, without question, each of these missionaries deserve enough support to cover their basic needs. Without this incredible team, none of the programs of IT Tender would exist. Our Filipino team is the heartbeat and the engine of everything we do for the urban poor community.

If you have a passion for supporting education for the urban poor, please consider supporting the IT Tender team that fuels all of our programs and educational initiatives. Most donors in today's society choose to give to a specific initiative or to sponsor a particular child. However, one of the most impactful and essential ways to support programs for the poor is to support the team on the front lines.

Monthly donations anywhere between $10/month to $200/month will greatly improve conditions for our Filipino missionaries by providing basic health care and respectable wages. Please consider giving to IT Tender through monthly support. Contact John coffey via email at john.coffey@iteams.ca for details on how to set up your monthly support (note: donors receive tax receipts for these donations). We are praying to raise another $300/month to cover health care and another $300/month to increase the support of our Filipino missionaries (Gabby, Jizza, Jonalyn and Cecille).

Thank you for your support and prayers.

Other News and Updates

We are grateful for the recent visits of two of our partner organizations - Ontario Christian Gleaners (OCG) and Action International. Both of these amazing groups provide food for our nutrition initiatives for the underweight children in our communities.

We truly appreciate OCG manager Shelly and Dianne for their personal visit to our drop-in center and our Sucat community.

We also thank God for Action International and their Filipino missionaries who help us feed and empower the poor, malnourished and marginalized. We enjoyed the visit from their wonderful staff.

Lastly, we had the opportunity to bring the youth from our child sponsorship program to the National Museum of Anthropology. The youth delighted in discovering more about the history of their ancestors and of the various Filipino tribes. We look forward to more educational and enriching field trips like this.

Thank you for following along with us at IT Tender. God bless you and your loved ones.

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