Contact: Joyce Rodriguez (416) 451-3320 or joycerodriguez711@gmail.com
Mississauga, Ontario – Home of Love supporters Norie Blohm and Joyce Rodriguez agreed with each other that they will raise $5000 this year to help with the reconstruction and renovations of Home of Love.
The first fund-raiser was a dinner dance they called Summer Heat. Over 100 guests attended the event held at the Kalayaan Cultural Community Centre in Mississauga. Sister Gliceria Cruz, representing the Home of Love, was the guest speaker. She spoke about the evils of human trafficking and what the Sisters do to help the victims. Summer Heat netted $3500, thanks to the guests who supported by buying t-shirts, 50-50 tickets and joining the Lose Weight game. Guests dined on a fusion of Filipino and Canadian food, but the hit of the night was the mini halo-halo, served to all, with seconds.
The second fund-raiser was a bus trip to Fallsview Casino in Niagara Falls. The bus was filled to capacity and a waiting list of passengers were not all accommodated. This event made $1120 for the Home of Love, thanks to all passengers who participated in the 50-50 draw, and enjoyed a Filipino breakfast.
The last fund-raiser for 2019 was an All-You-Can-Eat Filipino Breakfast held at Lunchbox Cafe in Brampton. Over 100 guests attended and enjoyed a buffet of Filipino breakfast and lunch items. This event made $875 for the Home of Love, thanks to all our hungry guests.
A total of $5495 was deposited to the bank account of Home of Love and have now been transferred to Cebu to help with the ongoing construction.
The Home of Love is a shelter and rehabilitation home for girls victimized by human trafficking and child prostitution. Many of these girls are lured out of their homes with promises of jobs in the big city. Sometimes, their own families sell them out to the recruiters to help them out of poverty.
The Home of Love was originally the formation house of the Sisters of Immaculate Mary Queen of Heaven Missionaries. The Sisters saw the need to help these girls and gave up their formation house in order to accommodate the girls. They converted the house into several bedrooms with several beds to accommodate 50 girls at the beginning, from local cities around Cebu.
Many of the Sisters are professionals in their own field. There is a Psychologist who helps with the girls’ therapies. There is also a Music Teacher to help with the Music Therapy. A medical doctor, dentist, and priest visit once a month. The girls are home schooled for the primary and elementary levels. When they pass the Board certified exams, they move on to high school outside of the Home. At this point, they are driven by a van from the Home to school, to avoid bullying and taunting. Some girls have graduated high school and moved on to college. They are also taught life skills like baking, sewing, crafts, looking after their own babies, to prepare them for life outside the Home and/or to return to their own families. The Home depends on whatever the community around it donates for the day. They have started growing their own produce and raising some chickens for their eggs. If there is a small profit from the sales of their baked goods and crafts, they are put into each girl’s account to help them when they leave the Home, as many times, their own families do not want to accept them back.
Through your generosity and kindness in the past, unknown to you, you have helped the Home of Love with boxes of used clothes, toys, books, purchased their hand-made rosary bracelets, donated funding to replace the ceased water pump, given funds to rebuild after a fire and after typhoon Haiyan six years ago.
Without a formation house, some of the sisters had to move out to other parts of the country and even to Canada and the USA to spread their mission. Currently, they have found 100 girls from the Bicol region in Central Philippines who are ready to be sheltered. This is why the Home of Love needs to be reconstructed and expanded. The Home of Love is undergoing rebuilding to accommodate 100 more girls. The chapel and gym will be converted to a dormitory. The chapel will be rebuilt outside of the gym. The dormitory will need building materials and labour to the tune of US$1,000,000.00. After that, the dormitory will need furnishings, beddings, linens, etc. Only then can the Home of Love be able to help these 100 girls from Bicol.
Special thanks to the officers and members of the Federation of Filipino Canadians of Brampton for helping with all three fund-raising events, and also for past and future projects to help the Home of Love.
For more information, please contact Joyce Rodriguez at joycerodriguez711@gmail.com or (416) 451-3320.
– 30 –
