By Joel R Jurasinski | Project Leader
Greetings to all our Friends and Donors from Siquijor Island, Philippines.
It is frustrating for us to report that we are still in a severe lockdown situation due to the ongoing pandemic. In fact, on this island, we are currently experiencing our first real outbreak of the virus, as the restrictions over the past twenty months had been effective at keeping the island safe. Now we are in a much tighter lockdown which stifles most of our efforts to help handicapped children. With this reality we have recognized new opportunities to serve God through our neighbors.
As the economy of our island is driven by tourism, and tourism has been shut down here for the last eighteen months, many residents have lost jobs and income. While most of the world made governmental subsidies to their citizens, there has been no such safety net for local Filipinos. Many of our neighbors and local children are now faced with an everyday struggle of finding their next meal, many subsisting on rice and porridge only. Faced with this, we have been using our existing ministry funds to sponsor feeding of malnourished children, supporting the local police food bank and food distribution program, and partnering with other concerned organizations to sponsor feeding and food subsidies. This was not our primary mission eighteen months ago, but God has placed us in this situation and we feel he is demanding we do all we can for our neighbors. This will be the primary focus of our efforts over the next several months.
Also, as we have in many years past, we receive clothing from John Cooper Academy, in The Woodlands, Texas. In the past, we distribute these clothing items to children, but with the current situation we are having to adjust this to distributing clothing to the front liners as a “Thank You” for all they are doing. We have distributed to the Philippine National Police, Bureau of Fire Protection and the Regional Health Unit. They truly appreciate the gift! Once we are able, we will continue our distribution of clothing to the children.
We would like to thank all of you who have given to our organization over the past few years and we hope you recognize that this change in focus is just temporary. We really wish this whole pandemic would go away and we could get back to our primary mission. We really hope that you will understand and continue to support us through these trying times.
God Bless All of You and Your Families,
Joel and Rhonda Jurasinski
Cast Your Nets Ministry
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