VAN FOR SCHOOL

Hello everyone! Thank you for your time in reading our funding page. My prayer is that you are all safe and healthy at this moment.

I am Jason Alviar, 39 years old. I am currently the school administrator of Hanniel Christian Academy, Inc., a small private elementary school located at Castillejos, province of Zambales, Philippines. I am writing this to appeal to your good hearts for a possible financial help regarding our current fund raising project in our school.

Before I continue, I want to share a bit of my personal background. I was born and raised in a Christian Family. My father is a pastor and my mother is his partner when they started their ministry with the street children in Olongapo during the time when the U.S. Naval Base was still in Subic. My parents co-founded the Philippine Faith Mission and started a child-caring institution for the abandoned, neglected, abused and deprived children. I grew up with some of the former kids and they were my childhood friends. I grew to love the ministry God had entrusted to our family. After I graduated from college I couldn’t leave the ministry even though there were many opportunities that were offered to me. My heart is with the ministry. I was entrusted to administer the school and I am so dedicated to it.

A short background about our school: Hanniel Christian Academy is the educational arm of Philippine Faith Mission, Inc. a non-government organization which aims to spread the Gospel in the province of Zambales through its ministries. The PFM has long been ministering to the street children of Olongapo city since 1979. Because of this ministry, the Jireh Children’s Home was established.Jireh Home is a child-caring institution that provides temporary shelter and care for children as well as their education.

Before our school was established the children of Jireh Home were studying at the local public school, but there were some circumstances that was unfavourable to the safety and welfare of the children. The board of trustees of Philippine Faith Mission thought of an idea to provide education to these children by starting its own school.

In 1992, the school began. It was named Emmanuel Christian Learning Center and offered pre-school education. In 2004 the school name was changed to Hanniel Christian Academy as it starts its elementary levels. 40% of the kids enrolled here are from Jireh Children’s Home. The rest are from the community. Most of the students enrolled from the community are financially challenged and so we cannot set high tuition/school fees.

The school had a small workforce of 10 personnel. We have 8 teachers, one for every level and 2 office staff including me. Because of the limited financial budget, we at the office have to multitask and handle many responsibilities including editing and printing teaching materials, maintenance, security, technical support and errand driver. Though the budget is small we were able to make both ends meet by God’s grace.

However, when this pandemic started we were met with new challenges. It was difficult for us to purchase the necessary supplies for the school because of the quarantine limitation.There was limited mobility in public transportation and few shops were opened. Also, only authorized persons are permitted to go out which will also involved clearances and health testing before being issued with passes.Before it was easy for us to purchase the necessary supplies because the teachers and staff were able to help and accompany us in purchasing the stuff we need.

Another problem is the publishing companies providing our textbooks were having trouble delivering our order to our school. These companies are located in Manila which is 3 provinces away from us. There was also an instance when the driver of one of the delivery services got the virus and the publishing company must pull-out the package so they can disinfect them before they can resend it to us. This situation caused a delay on the book delivery and also a 1 month delay in our school opening.

At some point, it made us think that we need our own service vehicle in this kind of situation so we can pick up the things we need ourselves. Also it would be useful not only for loading stuff but also for the transportation of small group of students during their study tour and for the staff quarterly seminars.

We are hoping you could help us raise funds to buy a van for our school. The type of vehicle we are looking for is a diesel engine with automatic transmission for easy driving(specially during traffic in Manila), it must be spacious for loading bulk cargo and at least 12 seating capacity.We are aiming for a brand new vehicle because a second hand one will cost more in maintenance and parts. Our goal is to raise at least Php.2.5 million or about $50,000 for this project.

We welcome all donations and nothing is ever too small. A dollar can go along way. We appreciate any help you can give and the staff and pupils of Hanniel Christian Academy, Inc. will be very grateful for your contribution to our project. We want to thank you in advance for your generosity. May God bless you!