Staff Blog

Nang Exyon Martinez produced nine children. Six of them have worked for CSC over the years. Five are currently our employees: Lit-Lit, Perry, Dodong, E-boy and Edwin.  Her husband, Teo, who died several years ago, was also an employee at one time. He and Exyon were among the earliest friends of the CSC staff in Cebu back in 1979 when the ministry began. She was a regular attender of the Bible study we held in our home in Bulacao, and would host prayer meetings in their home. Her son, Jessie, who became very sick during those days, was the first child in the community that we were able to help by purchasing medicine. Our intervention helped save his life and cemented a friendship between CSC and the Martinez family that continues to this day.  Nang Exyon died suddenly on Christmas Day. She was 79.

Exyon was a delightful person. She loved CSC deeply and was a loyal friend. She was so proud of her children and thankful that they could work at CSC. She worked hard throughout her life and, in spite of poverty, was a generous person who was always looking for ways that she could help others. At her funeral many people spoke of her heart and what an impact she had made in their lives. Just a week before she died Exyon attended a dedication for the new church building in Bulacao. She was so happy that day and we talked about the old days and how God had led CSC to Bulacao 39 years ago. She will be greatly missed by her family, the church and by CSC. God bless the memory 0f Nang Exyon!

Some of the Martinez clan at the cemetery for Nang Exyon's burial.

This is crunch time at CSC. Year-end giving, especially in December, is a huge part of CSC's income for the year, so we really rely on the generosity of our supporters at this time. We always come down to the last few days of the year needing a bunch of money! Is it stressful? Well, no, at least not a lot for me. I have witnessed so many years of God providing through his people, our supporters, that I don't really get stressed. Concerned and hopeful, yes. Prayerful, yes. But I can honestly say that I don't spend too much time worrying.

The challenge for me is to remember to be thankful while being confident and expectant. I don't want to take God's goodness to CSC for granted. Ever. We have been trying to be more intentional lately about teaching thankfulness to our CSC children. They receive so many blessings every day in terms of food, clothing, medical care, education, recreation, counseling, and fun activities. Lots of people work very hard to provide all of this for them. They know that they will receive nice gifts at Christmas and on their birthdays. If someone should skin their knee a loving nurse will attend to it. Social workers are preparing their legal documents to prepare them for adoption. House parents are available for emotional and spiritual support. Staff members have time to encourage them and show their love in practical ways. More than a hundred people are working for them every day, not to mention all of our supporters! We want them to be thankful for what they have. Part of this entails remembering where they came from. All of our kids grew up in poverty, and most experienced malnutrition, sickness and despair. We want them to appreciate what they have been given.

We have a program called Junel's Box that helps with this. Named after a former resident who had a huge heart for others, this program allows the CSC children to give money from their allowances to help a poor family that is selected by our social worker team. We buy food, building materials and household items and deliver them to the family just before Christmas. It is a time for the kids to "give back" and remember that there are people who are hurting and need a helping hand. We also tell our children regularly about all of you dear people who give generously to help us take care of them. I want them to know that the money that CSC has doesn't come from me or the wealth of the staff. It comes from cool people, most of them who are of modest means, who love them. These reminders are important to our kids. Every night at bedtime the children pray, thanking God for all of you who bless their lives.

Thanks to our friends for year-end gifts and prayers and for all that you do throughout the year to make life better for these awesome kids.

A few weeks ago I had a heart attack. They put in five stents because of significant blockage. I spent a few days in the hospital and went home to embark on a new lifestyle. I exercise every day and am very careful about my diet. Because I am diabetic, the need for controlled intake is doubly important. I am super blessed to have understanding staff at CSC, a loving wife who takes good care of me, and health insurance that will pay for much of the medical bills associated with my surgery, hospitalization, therapy and medications.

In addition to exercise and diet, I have been advised to try  and identify areas of stress in my life and work to lessen them. The past year has been very stressful at CSC with lots of personnel and program changes and some difficult situations to handle. There is no way to eliminate stress in my job, with the responsibilities of overseeing a ministry that employs 135 people and provides care for 80 children.  But I can say that, in the midst of changes and challenges, God has provided some significant "de-stressers" for me through the people on our Leadership Team. They help manage the challenges and absorb a lot of the stress that would otherwise come my way. For example:

Eldie, who directs our new Human Resources department, takes on issues relating to managing our employees. He handles problems and policies. When we recently had to terminate an employee, he handled it. We discussed it and came to the decision together, but he was the one to implement it. Ging, our Financial Director,  manages our funds. This is budget preparation season and she has handled much of the work of gathering the information and working with the staff on the preparation of the various departmental budgets. Klaris, our Social Work Director just got back from a quick trip to Manila for pre-matching one of our children with the Inter-Country Adoption Board. Six months ago I would have had to make that trip and deal with the challenging work of choosing a family with all the complicated procedures and policies of the government for matching. She also does all the editing of child study reports that go to the government for all our kids, again, something I would have been doing a year ago. Jinkee manages the Child Development department, seeing that our kids get the care they need from our house parents, child care workers and therapists. Marlys heads up the medical team of four nurses, making sure the children get the medical care they require. Ben and Cris are at the reins of Children of Hope School, managing the teachers and curriculum so ably and professionally. Although I am responsible for the care our children receive, our relationship to the government, and our financial and human resource management, I don't need to worry about the details of the work being done by these fine people and their teams. They handle problems and challenges, spreading around the potential stress that I need to minimize.

Our generous supporters are also de-stressers. This is crunch time at CSC. We need to raise a lot of money in November and December to meet our income needs for the year. We watch the daily mail counts carefully and prayerfully. Admittedly, we worry a little at this time of year! But much of that is alleviated by the knowledge that our supporters always come through in big ways. Our hope for year-end 2017 is based on the awesome provision of our God through our supporters every years since 1979. That's 38 years of faithfulness! God's admonition for us in Philippians 4:6-7 not to "worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done." Not only is it important to show our faith and appreciation to God for what He has done, we will avoid stress as we "experience God's peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. " Truly  His peace will "guard our hearts and minds as we live in Christ Jesus."

Thanks for your important role at CSC for the children, first of all, but for those of us who lead this ministry as well.

One of the most important changes at CSC these days involves our new Human Resources department and Eldie Allocod. Eldie has been a counselor at CSC for the past seven years, but he will relinquish that position as he takes over the leadership of HR. Eldie worked in the business world  before coming to CSC so has a basic understanding of the workings of an HR department and the government requirements for employers. But more importantly, he understands CSC and our employees. He will be great resource for them in terms of compensation, benefits and designing staff development and team building activities. Since CSC has 125 employees that will be a big job. Eldie will soon be hiring an associate to help him in the department.

Congratulations, Eldie, on this promotion and we look forward to watching this department get established and begin to meet the needs of a growing organization. As Eldie says, happier employees translates to better care for our children. And that is something that we are always looking for at CSC!

Big and small changes are happening at CSC. Whatever the size is, our arms are wide open in welcoming these changes. Sometimes in our lives "cool change" is needed and same is true for companies and ministries.

Last year we hired a Social Work Director and hired two more Social Workers to be on staff. This department had a big change with Carmelita Baya's retirement, our long time Social Worker. Just like the rest of the departments at CSC, Social Work has a vital role in the lives of our children. They are in the front row in admitting new CSC children and one of the many hands that prepare the children for adoption.

My department, Child Development, and Social Work works hand in hand. Together with the Counselors, our departments meet every month to talk about updates on each child. Our departments needs to be on the same page in writing our reports. Child Development needs to know where the child's paperwork is at and at the same time, Social Work needs to know of any challenges and progress our children meet.