SPONSORSHIPS
We are in the business of putting smiles on children’s faces.
They don’t need much help with that, just a little!
How are we putting smiles on these faces?
We have started 15 meal centers where we:
Serve nutritious meals
Sing lots of fun songs
And share a great Bible story
But that’s not all.
We also take care of their medical
needs and minister to their families.
But we cannot do it without you.
That’s why we are asking for sponsors.
When you sponsor a meal center, you provide the following blessings to every child in that center:
A weekly meal
Medical Attention & Supplies
A weekly Bible lesson and fun time with songs
AND MOST IMPORTANTLY:
The story of Jesus
SHOW THEM SOMEONE CARES
by becoming a sponsor today.
We want this to be personal, not just making a donation. So, we are partnering sponsors with specific meal centers so you can get regular updates and see how you are making a difference.
Handumanan Meal Center
Handumanan is the name of one of the largest barangay’s (village or community) in Bacolod City. This is a sprawling community that is always teeming with people.
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As you drive through the main street you will see people selling fish, lots of little shops and stores and people walking the busy street.
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There is a large community of squatters in Handumanan. Squatters are people who are living in an area that they don’t own. Often times entire communities of squatters are forced to move because the land is being developed or the owner wants them out.
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In the middle of one of these areas in Handumanan there is a light that shines bright for Christ. It is the home of Reggie and Bellia Ayco. This couple and their children are members of Crossroad Community Baptist Church and are also staff members with Unsheltered International Philippines.
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The meal center in Handumanan was born out of their love for their neighbors. There are dozens and dozens of children that live here and the Ayco’s wanted to ensure that they were being helped. We started the meal center in their home and quickly ran out of room to put the children.
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With space being a real issue, we decided to build a building. We constructed a simple nipa hut with a nice concrete floor. Today, dozens of children come each week to the meal center to hear God’s Word and receive a hot meal of rice soup.
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Sister Bellia does the cooking and it’s always delicious. She also has a big first aid kit and looks out for any of the children who need medical attention. This is a very needy place and God is really working there.
Status:
One week per month sponsored by Todd & Marie Crusenberry. Thank you!
One week per month sponsored by Savannah Smith. Thank you!
One week per month sponsored by Lisa Allen. Thank you!
Hope Village
Hope Village is a small re-settlement community in a mountainous area about thirty minutes outside the city. In the Philippines, when there is a squatter village that has been established for a while, before the owner of the property can develop it, he must provide a place for the squatters to go. These are called re-settlements. This happened in one of the places we have had a meal center for many years. About half the population was re-settled here in this mountainous area and they named it Hope Village.
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Although we have never had a sponsor for this two-year-old settlement area, our team continued to serve the children each week. They also continued to serve the old area. Hope Village has now grown into a rather large meal center with over twenty children who attend. With the anticipation of also starting a new church, we bought a small piece of land last year. Now, construction has begun on what will be the new meal center and eventually a new church plant.
Status: Sponsored in full by Sandra Lynce and Superior Painting, Harlem, GA. Thank you!
Barangay 16 Meal Center
In Bacolod City, Philippines, there is a place that has dozens and dozens of children and needy families. This neighborhood that is only a short walk away from a huge shopping mall where you can eat a great restaurants and buy the latest fashions.
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But Barangay 16 might as well be a million miles away from the prosperity that’s so close by. This is a very crowded area with homes stacked one upon another. It borders the ocean but is mostly a thickly populated area full of squatters and families who struggle every day to have enough food.
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Our first visit to this area was after we found some children sleeping on a dirty sidewalk. We asked these kids if they had families and a home. They led us to their homes in Barangay 16. Those kids lived in an area on Barangay 16 known as the boulevard, maybe the poorest area there.
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We began to take this kids and their mothers to church on the church van and many of them received the Lord as their Savior. We have a weekly Bible study in one of the homes and each Sunday we bring many people to the church services.
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Pastor Steve Dixon and a group from Porters Grove Baptist Church in Rising Sun, MD visited Barangay 16 and immediately became burdened for the area and the people. They committed to sponsoring the entire meal center and in just a few weeks we began.
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Each week dozens of very needy children come to eat, sing and hear a Bible lesson at this unique meal center in the heart of Bacolod City.
Status: Sponsored in full by Porters Grove Baptist Church in Rising Sun, MD. Thank you!
Crossroads Community Baptist Church Meal Center
Crossroad Community Baptist Church is a pioneer church work that was started by Missionary Antonio Ner a little over seven years ago. It is in Talisay City, Philippines which is just a few miles from Bacolod City.
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The church is just down the road from the very busy city hall and is a lighthouse for their community. The church is pretty primitive. There is no air conditioning, open walls so you can see outside and an outside bathroom. The church is on rented property and there is no room for expansion.
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But every Sunday the little church fill up with families. What makes this church so unique is that most of the families come from squatter areas and other extremely poor areas. They are reaching a very marginalized population with the gospel.
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They have a Sunday School program and a children’s church every Sunday. April Sharpe and her children and niece worked with the children every Sunday from January-May of 2015 and they noticed that most of the children who were coming on Sunday morning were extremely hungry.
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Merliza Ner, (Pastor Antonio’s wife) told them that if they only had a budget she could provide the children a good meal each Sunday and a new meal center was born right there at the church. So here at this meal center the kids have lessons, do coloring pages, sing songs, hear a short sermon tailored to them and they eat a great meal.
Status: Sponsored in full by Tammy Foskey, Delaware, OH.
Tulay Meal Center
In the Filipino language, the word Tulay means “bridge.” This meal center is called Tulay because it is located in a small area beside a river and you have to access the homes by stepping off of a bridge and walking a treacherous path. The makeshift homes are lined in rows, three or four houses deep, along both sides of the river. There are also houses underneath the bridge.
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Because these families live right on the water, the children can often be seen swimming and playing. When the tide goes out and the bottom is exposed, the children frantically work to dig up muscles from the sand. These muscles are a delicious food for them.
There are many children who live on each side of the bridge. Every Saturday, our team visits the right side of the bridge first. After they have served the meal and held the service, they go to the left side and do the same thing. On the left side of the bridge, there are two teenage girls who help lead the service each week. The amazing thing is that these two girls were reached with the gospel through this very ministry. They live right there.
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Also, this is a regular stop for the church van each Sunday. The people at this meal center always have the opportunity to attend services at Crossroads Community Baptist Church.
Status: Sponsored in full by Temple Baptist Senior Life groups, Cullman, AL
San Esteben Meal Center
San Esteben is a congested area in the city Talisay where about 150 families live. The village is surrounded on every side by sugar cane fields and there are two entrances from the main highway. The main highway is paved but was soon as you turn into San Esteban, you find yourself on rocky dirt roads that are dusty during the dry months and full of black mud in the rainy season.
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The houses are built in rows and the line the dirt streets that criss-cross the village. The children gather in a couple of different places each week for the Bible story and the meal, depending on the weather situation. When the weather is bad there is a big covered court that we can use if there isn’t an activity going on at the time. When we partnered with GPA Mobilization Ministries in 2015, we held the medical clinic under the covered court.
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The families that live here are very needy but also hard working. It is a blessing to be able to minister to them on a weekly basis.
Status: Two weeks per month sponsored by Darlene Sakers in Bristol, TN.
Two weeks per month sponsored by Tammy Foskey, Delaware, OH.
San Fernando Meal Center
San Fernando is a relocated squatter village on the outskirts of Talisay City. Sometimes, when there are large groups of people who have been squatting on a piece of property, they can receive permits to live there. In these cases, when the property owner wants to develop the land, he must relocate the people who live there and provide them with another area to live.
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Such was the case in 2015 with the residents who now live in this area. When I (Travis) first visited San Fernando, it reminded me of a small town that you would see being built in a western movie. Everything was newly built but mostly with used lumber and other salvaged materials. There are over 100 families who live in this village and several of them attend church at Crossroads Community Baptist Church.
The meal center here is now held in a building that was specifically constructed for this ministry. The children are always excited and enthusiastic about singing the songs and hearing the Bible lesson. Please pray for the precious children who live in this village.
Status: Sponsored in full by C.J. from Northern VA. Thank you!
Tumpok Meal Center
Tumpok is a small village on the outskirts of Bacolod City that is very near to the dumpsite. In fact, the way we typically access this village is by parking at our dumpsite meal center and walking about a mile or so through sugar cane fields, pig trails and crossing a creek. It is quite an adventure getting there, especially if it is the rainy season and there is water in the creek! You can often find children filling up jugs of water from the creek to use at their homes.
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Once you arrive in this rural farming community village, you find that there are children everywhere. Some of their parents work as scrappers in the dumpsite, some are farmers and some do other manual labor jobs. This meal center was started by one of our Philippine staff members, Bella Ayco. She had a heart for the children who lived there and even though we didn’t have enough money in the budget, she found a way to take food there every week. Now, this meal center is growing rapidly and we will need to build a small facility to hold all the children soon!
The families who live in Tumpok are extremely poor and they need all of the help they can get. The weekly meal, along with the medical assistance really helps the struggling families who are doing their best to survive.
Status:
One week per month sponsored by Jim & Denise Phillips in Cullman, AL. Thank you!
One week per month sponsored by the Hollandsworth Family in Nottingham, PA . Thank you!
One week per month sponsored by Suzanne Moore of Loganville, GA. Thank you!
Available:
One week per month is available for a sponsor.
Busay Meal Center
Busay is a large, spread out community that is built in and around the sugar cane fields in Talisay. There is a school in this farming community and most of the homes are scattered about in small clusters. As you walk from house to house on the narrow dirt trails, you will see banana trees, mango trees, homemade clothes washing stations and outdoor kitchens with smoke rising through the dense trees.
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Each week our staff serves the meal and teaches the Bible lessons in the front yard of one of the families. They have to park on the road near the school and then walk behind the school to the home where they meet. The adults in Busay work in the sugar cane fields and do other manual labor when there is no sugar cane to harvest, plant or hoe.
These children are eager to learn the Bible and some of them attend the church every week.
Status: Sponsored in full by Ron and Brenda Thompson and Dan and Debbie O’Renick from Radcliff, KY. Thank you!
Bug-Ang, Toboso Meal Center
Toboso is a small village in a mountainous area just outside the city of Sagay in the Western Visayas region of the Philippines. The drive from the city up to the village is a beautiful one that crosses many small rivers and sugar cane fields. When you finally arrive in Toboso you are in a small town with only a few shops and no city water system of big stores. It is a very rural area and most of the families depend on farming or small stores in their homes to earn a living.
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The church that we partner with in this village is Graceway Community Baptist Church. Pastor Jezer Maguilimutan and his wife Russell do a wonderful job of caring for the children in their meal center. They serve a weekly meal, have a song service and Bible study time. With your sponsorship, the children will also be able to have access to the medical help and first aid treatment of our fully sponsored centers. Please pray for these precious children and the teachers who serve them each week.
Status: Sponsored in full by Amanda Reed from Madison, AL. Thank you!
Nacab Baybay Meal Center
Nacab Baybay is a fishing village by the sea in Talisay City. The name Baybay actually translates as “by the sea.” The majority of the families in this community rely on the fishing industry as their main source of income. When you visit Nacab Baybay and as you drive into the village you can see men, women, and sometimes even children working hard to make fish nets by hand all along the side of the dirt road.
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The children are gathered every Saturday morning by Sister Wilma who is known better by the children as “Lola” Wilma, “Lola” being the Tagalog word for grandmother. They eat a nutritious meal, sing Sunday school songs, and listen to a Bible lesson taught by Lola Wilma or the young teenaged girl, Elena, who assists her. One of the kid’s favorite parts of the meal center days is when they get to practice their monthly memory verse. The children of Nacab Baybay are very playful, happy kids and almost all of them attend the children’s church at Crossroad Community Baptist Church.
Status: Sponsored in full by William and Paula Kyser and family from Rineyville, KY. Thank you!
Sagrado Meal Center
Nacab Bukid is a larger village located in the middle of sugar cane fields. To get to the village you either have to go by foot or by motorcycle down a long and narrow dirt road cutting through the fields. Many of the families work in farming, so you will be sure to see animals such as caribou and chicken. But even more than the animals, you will see the children of the village always playing, and laughing. Giving out high-fives and huge smiles each time they greet you.
The children meet every Saturday morning outside the house, where the meal has been prepared, that belongs to one of the families who attend Crossroad Community Baptist Church. Lovely, the teacher of this meal center, teaches them a Bible lesson, sings songs with them and serves each of the children a healthy meal. If any of the kids, or even one of their family members needs medical attention, Lovely is prepared to administer first-aid and can provide them with further medical help from UI-P if it should be required.
Status:
One week per month sponsored by Darlene Sakers in Bristol, TN.
Thank you!
One week per month sponsored by Virginia Anthony in Hull, GA.
Thank you!
Two weeks per month sponsored by R. & A. M. in N. East, MD.
Thank you!
Catabla Meal Center
Catabla is one of the larger village in Talisay City. As you are on your way to the meal center located there, you walk past the Catabla Baybay Elementary School and many small shops in the homes of those who live there, along with a couple vendor carts outside. A few families raise chicken as an extra source of income or food. When I first visited this meal center, one little boy was very proud to show off his chicken and the eggs it had laid. Catabla is a friendly community with many people wishing you a good day and children playing with their friends.
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The meal center in Catabla was established out of the need for better nutrition and for a stronger influence of Christ that was recognized by two women who already lived there. Sister Melanie and Sister Emily, faithful members of Crossroad Community Baptist Church, opened up their homes to the children in their area to learn from God’s Word. Now every Saturday the kids are excited to hear a Bible lesson, sing Sunday School songs, and work on memorizing their monthly verse before being given the healthy meal their teachers prepared for them earlier that morning.
Please pray for the growth of this meal center and the children who are being greatly impacted by its ministry.
Status: Sponsored in full by anonymous donor from Ohio. Thank you!
Dapitan Meal Center & Church Plant
Filipino evangelist Pastor Raul and Sister Rachel Remada and their family moved from their home church and ministry in Bacolod City, Negros Occidental, going to the island of Mindanao to spread the Gospel starting in Dapitan City. Like most areas we have established meal centers in the Philippines, Dapitan City has very poor and overpopulated communities. When they moved there, the main goal for Pastor Raul was to plant a church for these communities. Before he did this, he formed relationships with the families who live there by first serving the children through the Meal Center Program.
Every Saturday morning their team wakes up very early to prepare soup to feed the hungry kids who they organize the meal center for. Sister Rachel leads the service in an open concrete building that seems to still be under construction or simply unfinished. After she prays and sings many Sunday school songs with the kids, her 11 year old daughter, Chelra, teaches the children their weekly Bible lesson and memory verse. As they teach the children, Pastor Remada talks with and shares about Jesus to the parents and adults sitting outside their homes. Once the lesson is wrapped up all the kids run their cups and bowls over to the table where they are filled up with delicious rice soup.
On November 5, 2017, Pastor Raul led the first Sunday service at the brand new church plant with eight new converts baptized that afternoon!
Status: Sponsored in full by the Reese Family of Warrenville, SC. Thank you!
LaCastellana Meal Center
LaCastellana is a small rural Village in the province of Negros Occidental. Pastor Ricky Yamoyam operates this vital meal center from their church Crossroad community Baptist mission.
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This mission is a couple of years old and a vital part of the community in LaCastellana. The meal center serves the needs of many children that live in this small village community. Most of the families make a living by working in the sugarcane fields and many of them do not have enough work to provide sufficiently for their families. Please pray for Pastor Ricky and his family as they operate this meal center and help spread the gospel among the children and families in LaCastellana.
Status: Available for sponsorship.
What does it take to become a sponsor?
It takes $50 per week, per meal center to operate.
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$200 per month sponsors one meal center all month.
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$100 per month sponsors one meal center for two weeks.
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$50 per month sponsors one meal center for one week.
Not able to be a monthly sponsor yet?
You can still sponsor a week, month or more.
Simply give your gift to sponsor the meal center of your choice (or indicate wherever needed).
Your gift will be applied just like a monthly sponsorship without the long term commitment.
We are grateful for them all!
Get started today by mailing your gift to:
Unsheltered International
C/O Meal Sponsorship
PO Box 2625
Cullman, AL 35056
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Make checks payable to Unsheltered International. You can indicate which meal center you want to sponsor in the memo section or simply write “where most needed”
More Information
We are currently serving meals to an average of 630 children each week across the Talisay City and Bacolod City area, reaching even to Dapitan City on the separate island of Minanao . We have 15 different meal centers. This ministry is carried out by Pastor Antonio Ner and Crossroad Community Baptist Church and the Filipino staff of Unsheltered International Philippines, Inc. They teach Bible lessons at each meal and their main goal, as ours is, is to win souls to Christ.
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Unsheltered International is a 501 c 3 non-profit ministry and all donations are tax deductible.
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You can email us at info@unsheltered.org with any questions. Hopefully, we’ll have some fancy buttons up soon to sign up automatically!