Home > Updates > April 2016 - Cathedral of Praise, Manila, Philippines
Pastor Bev in the Gerard Chapman Kitchen
Anticipating food
"We are busy feeding more children than ever!" exclaimed Beverley Sumrall, director of the feeding program that takes place throughout the week from volunteers of the Cathedral of Praise church in Manila. "We switched our feeding time from the afternoon to early morning so that the children fortunate enough to attend government schools will have food before they go. The food will help them focus, give them a chance to concentrate and learn, and in turn make something of themselves. We have also started monthly weighing and measuring of the children to see their progress."
"Our workers love our new 'Gerard Chapman Benevolence Kitchen,'" continues Beverley. "And it gets well used! I have recently met some of the children at our church who are on the receiving end of the daily breakfast. A group in Hong Kong donated some pretty little dresses and T-shirts for the children and that gives them the dignity to come join us in services."
"I did hear something sad from one little boy who was running around naked as the program was about to begin. One of the workers asked him to get dressed so he would be ready. 'Why should I get dressed?' he asked. 'If I wear a T-shirt it will just get dirty, and I don't have any water to wash it in!' When we do give clothes to some of these kids they either sell them to get a little more food or they wear them for a week and when they are all dirty they just take them off and leave them. These kids live in a world we can only imagine."
Anticipating food
Lives touched by prayer
"We have been trying experiments, trying to source the most nutritious possible food and then cooking it up every day with local flavours the kids enjoy. I think their favourite is 'champorado' which is a chocolate-type flavour. We name the nutritious food packs 'manna packs'. We have been sourcing them from groups who brought aid a couple of years ago to an area of the country that had been hard hit by a typhoon. After the storm, there were so many positive stories about the people who ate these particular packages of food. For example, elderly people who had not been able to walk for months were able to walk again. This caught our attention and we tried to imagine what would happen if truly impoverished children had access to this type of food on a daily basis. We are still trying different groups as sources for the 'manna' and then, through the generosity of Sunday Line, we are able to put it all together, cooking everything and adding in all these wonderful flavours that the kids like. Since we are focused in about three general areas every morning, we are hoping and praying that one day we will be able to build an actual little chapel for them as well."
"It melts the heart! As one of the Cathedral of Praise choirs lead the children in worship and prayer, young lives are touched by Jesus. The little children may have nothing, really nothing, but they can truly experience the love of Jesus."
Feeding the Impoverished
Feeding the Impoverished
Groups such as this one from Alabama, visit Cathedral of Praise Church in Manila and help with the daily feeding programs, sing, teach Bible lessons and play with the children as they feed them. This group said it was the most life changing thing they had ever done - they just absolutely loved it . . . and so did the children.