This is Emilda Soriano. She’s 18 years old and attends Salem Student Center in Iloilo City, Philippines.
The student center she attends serves a community in which many of our families scavenge here.
Child development specialists say that Emilda has the mental capacity of a 3-year-old. But this, and her environment, haven’t prevented her from qualifying to represent the Philippines in track and field at the 2011 Special Olympics World Summer Games in Athens, Greece.
Regrettably, qualifying and going to Athens are two different things.
Emilda is currently training … hoping that something can be done so she can join the other 7,500 athletes who will be competing in the games.
She’s not able to make plans because activities like this can’t be funded by our Child Sponsorship Program. However, Compassion Philippines has submitted a proposal requesting additional assistance for Emilda.
This is where you come in. Let’s raise the money to send Emilda to Greece. The amount is just shy of $20,000.
Make a donation to allow Emilda to compete in the International Special Olympics. (UPDATE: Mar. 8, 2011 – 100 percent of the money has been raised.)
Assuming we can raise the money for Emilda, I plan to have at least one follow-up blog post about Emilda before the games begin and one after she’s raced. Depending on what the Philippines Country Office can support, there could be more, including video. That’s what I’m pushing for.
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I looked today and the thermometer is at the top! Fully funded! Praise the Lord!
WOW! Almost there! Do we know the date of her race?
Alright!!!!!!!!!
We’re at 63% of the goal. The Compassion Uganda office raised $1,100 for Emilda in their staff meeting the other day.
YAY Compassion Uganda!!!!! Way to go…. 🙂
Hi there! I recently blogged about this giving opportunity. I’m wondering if the online donation link is also for Canadian donors? Will a Canadian charitable tax receipt be issued? If not, is there a ways we can donate via the Compassion.ca website? Thanks!
Donations made by credit card via the U.S. website will only generate a U.S. tax receipt at the end of the year. Compassion Canada says that they can only provide a tax receipt for contributions that come directly through their office. We’re not able to set up a donation page on Canada’s site for Emilda because of how donations are being tracked for this effort.
Thanks for the info, Chris.
I’m looking into this for you.
We’re still just shy of 50% of our goal.
Almost 50%! At least Emilda has enough for her plane ticket!
Okay… I gave 20 bucks and now I’m going to go check that thermometer. Only thing is, I didn’t enter a code when I donated…… It already said something about the Olympic fund at the top? So I hope it is okay. If not…. I guess it just means I gotta donate again. 🙂
We’re at 32% of our goal – $6,467. Please continue to spread the word. Thanks.
I am donating some money today for Emilda!
Wonderful! Thank you Lola.
Lola – awesome!
Chris, guess what? We’re 30% there today! $13,390 left to raise.
I donated a couple of days ago and am waiting until my next paycheck to donate more. Tell your friends and family about this; I know that in Christ, nothing is impossible and Emilda certainly shows us that with her brave spirit and heart!
We’re at 12% of our goal – $2,361
I gave $22 today ;)! Glad I remembered!
Instead of Compassion sending out a mailer or e-mail, perhaps those of us who are interested could commit to pasting the link in an email and sending it out to family, friends, our Bible study groups, church groups, or anyone else who might be interested in participating.
I love this idea! It could also be communicated as a Compassion Bloggers idea. I wrote a post yesterday, and saw a few other posts as well.
We’re sending an email to the Compassion Bloggers. It was supposed to go out last night, but the Internets was down. Hopefully, tonight.
Sweet! Thank you!
I have a question:
Are you planning on sending out a letter about Emilda for those sponsors who don’t check twitter or the website?
At this time we are not. We don’t do much fundraising via social media because we try to provide communication that is more relational. However, when I do see something like this I like to offer it to our fans and followers so they can help. On the other hand, sponsors and donors do get quite a number of requests for support via email and direct mail. We try to exercise restraint and not overwhelm them will all the needs that poverty tosses up at us.
Thank you for your generosity to Emilda yesterday. $1,921 has been raised.
I’m going to drop $20 off at Compassion tomorrow 😉 just need about 999 more people to do the same 🙂 I look forward to seeing her race video winnig the Gold medal
I Peter 5:7 “Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for YOU!”
This is a great opportunity for a Compassion kid! Count us in.
Come on sponsers, one less breakfast out, two less starbucks, or just plain decide to help. I challenge every person that reads this to donate just one dollar. I’m putting my money where my mouth is.
I totally agree
Is there a dead line and can we send contributions with our monthly statement?
We love the Special Olympics!
Steph,
The only deadline is when we reach the $19,857 amount requested by the Compassion Philippines proposal. Hopefully, we’ll be able to do that quickly.
There is a thermometer tracking our progress on this page; although, it’s not currently displaying properly. That’s being addressed and should be fixed soon.
I’m also going to be giving updates about donations to let people know how things are going.
You can send your contribution with your monthly statement, but please be sure to check the thermometer first. And be sure to include a note that you’re donating so that Emilda can go to the Special Olympics. Include this code for proper tracking – 96738.
Please let us know when they fix the thermometer, many of us are watching it. Thanks!
It’s fixed. $737 has been raised so far.
Happy Valentine’s Day Emilda! I hope with my help and many others we can send you to the Olympics!
Thank you for the opportunity to support Emilda, what a fantastic story… I am looking forward to hearing news of her victories in Greece (what an incredible and historic place to compete in the Special Olympics!) — she will get there!
I didn’t purchase anything for Valentine’s Day — giving her the funds instead!
JD,
That’s fantastic! Thank you so much.
Thank you — can’t do this without the help of Compassion!