Precious children from a Philippine slum, each with many days worth of rice for their families thanks to Heaven’s Family’s Food Fund

Dear Friends,

What a blessing it is to help sustain poor believers who have so little—and help save some from the clutches of evil. On a recent trip to the Philippines I visited a humble little ministry called Hope House. Located in a slum that is unimaginable by Western standards, the saints of Hope House are preaching the gospel by their words and actions.

I had come to learn how Hope House is helping to prevent young girls from being sold into the sex slave industry, and to see if Heaven’s Family could help through our Human Trafficking Fund. Around the world, slums are the favored hunting grounds for traffickers. It is there that they find parents desperate enough to sell their children and teenage girls who can be lured by the false promise of good jobs. They also find conditions that make it easy for them to kidnap children with little risk of prosecution.

I learned from my host that, by helping to feed families, by providing fees and uniforms for school, by teaching them about the strategies of traffickers, and by supporting them with medical care, young girls become less vulnerable. Hope House is also seeking ways to help families start small businesses so that they can better support themselves. The most important protection from exploitation, however, is the gospel of Jesus Christ. Because of the evangelistic outreaches of Hope House servants, most of the children they help are now believers, as well as many of their parents.

While I was visiting, I felt that Heaven’s Family could initially help by purchasing rice from money I had brought from the Food Fund. So I purchased 2,200 pounds for distribution the next day after church. As you can see in the photos below, all felt very blessed—and I was grateful to have a small hand in helping to protect some beautiful children.

I am also grateful that Heaven’s Family will be partnering in the future with Hope House to protect girls and their families from the scourge of modern-day slavery.

Unloading 2,200 pounds of rice the night before distribution

More happy children!

…and still more!

Above and below: Mothers and their children, all happy recipients of rice that day

Because of Jesus,

Jeff Trotter
for the Food Fund