By Jill Cortes | Executive Director
“Hope for Us”
Celebrating 104 Years of empowering Filipino Amerasian children through education.
2025 has been a year of building the PAGA community and amplifying our voice. More people pitched in to help the children in various ways, through sponsorships, donations, training, or sharing our story.
It has also been a year of revisiting our program and exploring ways to achieve a better financial position. And we have made little but significant steps to get there. Streamlining our expenses has given us more room to “breathe,” and help more children.
This we owe to the commitment and support of our Board of Trustees, long-time sponsors, former officers of PAGA, and private individuals who believe that education remains key to opening doors to opportunities.
The family of a beloved President of PAGA who passed years ago launched a scholarship in his name – the Frank Holz scholarship. Another former President recently offered to sponsor livelihood training for the parents. Everyone is pitching in for the future of these children left behind and perhaps deprived of what could have been a better life.
In the Philippines, getting an education is like a “one – in- a – million” chance, given how the cost of living has become almost impossible for people living below the poverty level to subsist. And that remains the biggest motivator for our children to complete their education. Our beneficiaries continue to inspire us. Given the pressure of school work, concerns brought about by poverty, and taking on odd jobs after classes, they all manage to maintain their average at 85% or B and even higher.
In 2025, we had three beneficiaries who were fortunate to get jobs right after graduation. Jobs that are aligned with their courses. Today, they take pride in being able to help put food on the table and contribute for the rent. As employees, they are given the benefit of medical insurance, which is a significant help to them and their parents as dependents.
We have gone beyond education for the children and broadened our scope of assistance to include livelihood training for the parents. This way, we are putting in more “safety nets” for the families. Their training will include an assessment of their capabilities, skills training and developing a business plan to ensure sustainability. We started with one mother who was trained in soapmaking and will be part of the women who will supply soap to hotels.
It’s not just about giving a monthly allowance for transportation and a meal. We at PAGA are very conscious of child protection. We have a law professor and a US veteran who have volunteered to do training in Children’s Rights and Self Defense. Some of the kids who help their parents sell at the street corner until the wee hours of the morning share how they see some people taking photos or videos of them on the sly. Our female college kids work the night shift in 24-hour convenience stores or help in small restaurants after classes. Every one of them is vulnerable. Some of our elementary kids in public schools share how they are being bullied by those their age.
Amidst the daily challenges they face, our beneficiaries were able to take a break and shine the day we celebrated our 104th year of existence. Our anniversary celebration was a meaningful fellowship that brought the PAGA community together. The children put on an amazing show. We discovered we had a teenage Frank Sinatra in our midst. Each beneficiary pitched in and their parents naturally became the motley crew. It was indeed a family affair. But the most meaningful part was when we gave out the Gratitude Awards to all our sponsors. Organizations and people who have been there for the children for decades.
Imagine, 104 years of getting more than 5,000 Filipino Amerasian children to the Finish Line, and counting. Imagine, helping keep more than 5,000 children safe. And imagine, being able to break generational poverty 5,000 times over. Imagine, more than 5,000 dreams realized. And counting.
That is one pretty amazing journey only made possible by your kindness. A gift that these children will carry with them in their pockets and share with others. A journey of Hope for everyone.
We remain grateful and wish you a most amazing journey too.
Love always,
Your PAGA Family
By Jill Cortes | Executive Director
By Jill Cortes | Executive Director
Project reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.
If you donate to this project or have donated to this project, you can receive an email when this project posts a report. You can also subscribe for reports without donating.
Support this important cause by creating a personalized fundraising page.
Start a Fundraiser
