Subscribe | Log in

The Bridge Overseas Mission

:: Page Navigation

:: Photos, Videos & More

back to top

:: About the Program

The Bridge is a program that enriches the lives of impoverished youth overseas by providing education, resources, and inspiration. We donate much needed materials and technology including computers, books, and school supplies for a more successful education. We provide medical and hygiene supplies and teach the importance of living a healthy lifestyle. And we provide free creative arts workshops including breakdancing, hip-hop and poetry to expand the appreciation and knowledge of the arts.

Each year, young adult mentors from the Bay Area and New York are carefully selected. The mentors that join the trip and teach the educational workshops are immersed in a different culture and are given the opportunity to appreciate its traditions, people and food. They are exposed to the beauty of the place, as well as the raw truth of its poverty. They learn about the world and they come back with a better perspective about their own life.

A defining moment for the program is when we visited a village in Pampanga, which is a hot spot for child trafficking. One of the children that we reached out to at this village passed away from a parasitic worm in his stomach. Due to lack of funds, his family was not able to purchase the medicine that could have saved his life. In learning this, we sponsored the de-worming project to supply all 105 children in this school with the medicine, many of whom were experiencing similar symptoms.We later learned that the worms had passed through the bodies of the children that were infected. What we’ve come to realize is that we are no longer just changing lives, we are now saving lives as well.

The Bridge will be going back to the Philippines in January 2012 to continue our mission. We will be providing resources that improve the education and health of the children.

To learn more about The Bridge, contact Program Coordinator Ron Cariño

back to top

:: Program Achievements / 2010-11

  • Taught educational workshops to over 15,000 youth and provided supplies to 15 schools in the provinces of Batangas, Pampanga, Iloilo, Bohol, Cebu and Boracay
  • Provided de-worming medicine for 105 village children in Pampanga and saved lives
  • Donated 100 fully-functioning Pentium III+ computers to schools
  • Donated 8000 books, 8000 school materials, 7000 hygiene supplies, 800 pairs of shoes, and boxes of clothes, toys and medicine.
  • Exposed 15 young adult mentors from the Bay Area and New York to another culture.
  • Provided 200+ youth volunteer opportunities to organize benefit events, book drives, and clothing drives.
  • Provided 30+ Information Technology students volunteer opportunities to utilize their skills in refurbishing computers.

back to top

:: How You Can Get Involved

We are in need of:

  • Volunteers to organize school supply drives at schools or other facilities
  • Donations including computer and components, toys, clothes, school supplies, sports equipment, and hygiene supplies
  • Monetary donations
  • Contacts for schools, media, non-profits, and funding sources (i.e. sponsoring companies, grants) here in the Bay Area and in the Philippines

back to top

:: Where We Help and Why

The Philippines is comprised of 7,107 islands in the western Pacific Ocean. It is a nation of beauty and culture. However, there’s a side to this paradise that’s filled with pain and suffering: its children are starving, they are being stripped of an education to work for pennies, and are being sold as slaves overseas. This is the state of our children in the Philippines:

  • 40% or 30 million people live in poverty, many of which are children.
  • 2 million children between the ages of 5-17 are forced into labor. Because these jobs are unsanctioned, there are no minimum wages and more than half are not paid.
  • There are up to 100,000 children that have been trafficked. The Philippines is now a hotspot in Southeast Asia for human trafficking. Many are forced to become sex slaves in places like Japan, Australia, Taiwan, Europe and the U.S.
  • Typhoon Ketsana/Ondoy has displaced 450,000 people, many of which are children.

There is a lack of support for the children in the Philippines. The education, resources, and hope that is needed for them to grow to be successful and happy individuals is very scarce. We are in need of more programs improving the education, health and wellbeing of our youth in the Philippines.

back to top