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Dear friends and supporters of IT Tender,
Get ready to celebrate! The new Tender Educational Center is almost ready to open its doors to our community! We're thrilled to share that we've already hosted some special events and activities for our students at the new center, giving them a taste of the incredible experiences to come. Our latest board meeting was held in the stunning new meeting room, and we're buzzing with excitement.
This week, we're hosting a soft launch of our preschool program, welcoming students and parents to our inaugural classes. The feedback from our recent preschool orientation was overwhelmingly positive, with parents marveling at the modern facilities and praising the warm, inviting atmosphere. One parent even compared it to a prestigious private school – a testament to our commitment to providing high-quality education to the most marginalized.
Although we're looking forward to September when we'll be fully operational at the new building, here are some early snapshots of the center before we officially open...
Teacher Gabby and some youth volunteers painted a beautiful mural by the spiral staircase.
Kitchens on the first and third floors are ready to serve our hungry students. We've already held some meetings in our new meeting/training room.
For the protection of students, staff, and visitors, the entire center is equipped with CCTV cameras. As students enter the building, a high-tech biometric system logs their entry (through facial recognition), and parents have the peace of mind knowing they can check online to know whether their children are presently at our center and what time they entered or left. Certain doors are also equipped with smart locks that require facial recognition and/or fingerprints. We're also enjoying the beautiful view from our rooftop!
Our construction workers - many of whom are parents and relatives of our very own students - are working hard to complete the dance studio, discipleship café, roof (with solar panels to be installed soon), and front gate. We look forward to sharing more photos of the various features and rooms in the coming months!
There's a few more things we're praying for before we launch the new center in September. We're praying to raise $20,000 CAD ($15,000 USD) to purchase a slightly used van for the transportation of preschool students to-and-from the new center. Aside from the van, we only need to raise another $25,000 CAD to reach the target of $470,000 CAD to complete the renovations of the center!! For our American supporters, that's just $18,000 USD that we still need to raise to reach our target of $350,000 USD.
A heartfelt thanks to our incredible supporters who've contributed to the 'Big Leap' campaign! Your generosity brings us closer to our goal of creating a state-of-the-art center for the poor. Reaching our target will enable us to complete the renovations seamlessly and equip our new home with the best resources for our students.
We're overjoyed to be in the final stretch of this journey! Thanks to your kindness and God's guidance, we've made tremendous progress. Now, let's work together to cross the finish line before September. Every donation, big or small, counts, and we're grateful for your partnership.
Email us at ContactITTender@gmail.com for info on how you can donate.
Typhoon season has brought its full force to Manila, with the first week of July bringing the first major storms of the season. This is just one of many reasons why we're more than ready to turn the page and start fresh in our new center, safely situated on higher ground! Goodbye to the old, flood-prone Tender center! Take a look at these photos from July 8th, which show our old center's ground-floor flooded after heavy rainfall. We can leave our giant rubber boots behind with the old center as a courtesy to the next tenants.
As the Philippines faces the challenges of this rainy season, we'd be grateful if you could keep our country in your thoughts and prayers. The typhoons have been particularly harsh in certain regions, and we're not immune to the effects in Metro Manila.Thankfully, there's a number of reasons to be grateful this season at IT Tender. Aside from the upcoming move, we're also celebrating many momentous events for our staff and our students, as shown in the following pictures...
Congrats to our intern Lezaly who just graduated from the Philippine Christian University with her Bachelor of Science in Social Work! Your Tender family is so proud of you!
The sponsor children of IT Tender are grateful for the support of our donors that provided them with new school suppiles and uniforms for the new school year. For just $1.25/day ($37.50/month) you can send a child to school through IT Tender by sponsoring their education. Email us at ContactITTender@gmail.com for info on how to sponsor a child.
Thanks to our partners at IBM Philippines and Goodera, students of IT Tender received skateboards with protective gear and enjoyed a tutorial in skateboarding.
Our director, John Coffey, took on a key role as moderator of a panel discussion at the very first convention for licensed non-profit organizations and government agencies across Metro Manila.
Thank you for following along with us and for supporting our programs and students! Please check out the current prayers and praises of our team here below.
- The Tender Team
