In 2020, the generous and heartfelt gifts of Holt sponsors and donors like you helped children and families across Holt programs like never before.
Your gifts delivered emergency food to families during citywide lockdowns. You helped orphanages hire extra caregivers to care for children during many months of quarantine; sent protective equipment like masks and sanitizers to keep children, families, Holt staff and caregivers safe; provided special workbooks, supplies and even digital devices to help children learn remotely; and gave hygiene kits for families in such financial crisis they couldn’t even afford soap. You also provided emergency medical care, socially distant social worker visits; and so, so much more.
As we look back on 2020, we could go on and on about all the ways you made a difference. But let’s narrow in on one country where Holt works to show how your compassion and generosity helped children and families weather the global COVID-19 crisis.
In the Philippines last year, you helped over 2,300 children receive the care and support they needed to not only survive the pandemic, but continue to learn, grow healthy and strong, and thrive in the love of their families or caregivers.
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Children in orphanage care and foster homes continued to receive quality care while awaiting family reunification or adoption. Through the Independent Living and Educational Assistance (ILEA) program, you helped older children who have aged out of orphanage care to remotely continue their high school and college education.
To help children and families who lost jobs and income due to citywide lockdowns, you helped provide emergency food boxes of rice, sardines, coffee and soymilk. You also made it possible to provide emergency cash assistance to families in greatest need — helping them stay in their homes and out of debt during this difficult time.
Although the pandemic suspended in-person school, children in the Philippines continued to learn in a variety of ways from home. Depending on a child’s location and access to internet and other resources, children learned either through an online learning system, a blended approach of offline and online learning, educational programming on public radio or television, or hardcopy workbooks and lessons.
On International Children’s Day in June, sponsors and donors still made it possible to throw a socially distant party for the orphaned and vulnerable children in Holt’s Philippines programs — including children living in care centers like those pictured here. 
Despite the difficulties of the past year, children in the Philippines and around the world continued to grow and thrive and experience moments of all-out joy — with many thanks to the heartfelt generosity of Holt sponsors and donors. 
In 2020, sponsors and donors helped make it possible for students in the Independent Living and Educational Assistance (ILEA) program to continue attending high school and college classes remotely online. 
In the Philippines, Holt sponsors and donors also support young adults who age out of orphanage care. While living in group housing, they learn independent living skills and continue their education through high school and college. 
In 2020, due to COVID-19, Holt’s Christmas celebrations looked a little different. But children still received special gifts, and foster families (pictured here) received essential items to help meet the needs of the kids in their care. 
Through their generous gifts, Holt sponsors and donors help provide nurturing foster care for children in the Philippines who are waiting to rejoin their birth families or join a family through adoption. Every year, they also make it possible to throw a joyous Christmas celebration! 
Children in foster care have so much fun every year at their Christmas party! 
Many families in the Philippines are daily laborers who rely on what they earn each day to feed their children. When the city went into lockdown this past year due to COVID-19, the families could not work and quickly fell into crisis. Thankfully, Holt sponsors and donors showed up for them with emergency food, hygiene kits and cash transfers to pay rent and purchase essentials. 
In 2020, emergency gifts from sponsors and donors also made it possible to deliver immediate COVID relief to families in need.
View the slideshow above to see photos of the children and families you helped and learn more about the difference you made in the Philippines last year!
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