As we celebrate FCF’s 25th year, let us share the joy of giving and what we have accomplished so far. But we should not rest on our laurels as there is much more to do. Recent studies by several international organizations show that a third of all Filipino children are living in poverty. Many are forced to quit school and work to augment family income. The effect of poverty on these children is heartbreaking - hunger, malnutrition, stunted growth, street-begging, homelessness, illiteracy, etc.

FCF will continue to work hard to lift more children up from the misery of poverty. it is a daunting challenge but we all have a moral obligation to confront it. You and I shall always be guided by this famous quote - Past the seeker as he prayed came the crippled and the beggar and the beaten. And seeing them…he cried, “Great God, how is it that a loving creator can see such things and yet do nothing about them?” God said, “I did do something. I made you.”

The International Monetary Fund has said that although the Philippines has managed to get its economy to grow over the past decades, poverty reduction in the country has remained limited. In Metro Manila alone, an estimated 1.7 million children live in slums. Urban poverty can trap children in a downward spiral of poverty and squalor, leading to sickness, neglect and risk of exploitation.

FCF started with a single beneficiary. Today it provides funds to seven charities on a yearly basis and to other organizations who need immediate assistance because of unforeseen events.

But we will not dwell on our accomplishments. We will continue to work hard to lift more children up from the misery of poverty. It is a daunting challenge, but we all have a moral obligation to confront it. With your support FCF will continue what it started in 1993

The face of this child appeared on the cover of our First Annual Charity Ball souvenir program. The year was 1993. It was the year the Filipino Children’s Foundation was born out of a growing concern about the state of poverty in the Philippines and its tragic effect on our children. Since then we have become a strong voice for these children, passionately advocating to advance their cause and work for their welfare and survival.

Now, as we start our tenth year, we are proud of what we have accomplished, having extended help to hundreds of children brutalized by extreme poverty - from the slums of Manila to the poorest barangays of Camarines Sur and Davao. Yet we know that our task has just started. Today, the Philippines still ranks as one of the poorest in the world. Countless children are crying for help. A Jesuit writer once said that it is the excuse of those who care little to magnify what has to be done and thus find reason for doing nothing. We cannot afford to do nothing. As Pope Paul VI wrote - “If you want peace, work for justice.” We truly believe that there will be no justice in this world so long as the children are allowed to suffer.

Welcome to our Fifth Annual Charity Ball. Five years ago we made a commitment to help the poorest of the poor children in the Philippines. We did. And we still devote our resources to that end. We also promised that we will not spend a dime on anything other than the funding projects benefitting the Filipino children. We have lived up to that promise. Today, our officers and volunteers still work without compensation, dedicating their time and effort to the success of our fund-raising events.

We obviously take pride in what we have accomplished in five years, and yet the biggest credit belongs not to us but to the couple who sends twenty dollars, and the business owner who donates one hundred, and the philanthropist who gives five hundred. The recognition belongs to all our supporters who gave and continue to give unselfishly to the Foundation. Without them, we would not have reached this point.

Our task has just started. Countless street children are still roaming the streets of Manila, Cebu, Davao and other metropolitan areas. We dedicate this event to them, with the promise that we will not let them down.

Established in 1993, the Filipino Children’s Foundation is a non-profit California corporation dedicated to helping the poorest of the poor children in the Philippines. Aid will be directed to street children under the age of thirteen, with emphasis in both areas of rehabilitation and prevention. To fund its programs the Foundation will hold fundraising events and solicit direct contributions from the community.

Poverty in the Philippines is at a crisis stage. This human tragedy is most visible in our crowded cities where children are the most common victims. The number of street children has grown ten-fold over the past decade. To survive, they have become scavengers, beggars, thieves and prostitutes.

These children are our children. Their future is the future of our country. Please help us save them by supporting the Filipino Children’s Foundation.