Home of Hope Orphanage

In September of 1984, Rev. Harold Lovestrand, a Christian missionary and the Asia Coordinator for AMG International, came to visit Bacolod City.  Seeing the sad state of many children, especially orphaned and neglected children, he decided to begin Home of Hope.  Shortly thereafter, with three Christians offering their help, Home of Hope started its operation to alleviate the suffering of orphans in the streets and other children who had been abandoned. 

By December of 1984, six orphans were adopted and provided temporary shelter in a rented house. News of the new orphanage for the underprivileged spread quickly, and even though strict admission was imposed, the number of children grew to twenty-seven by the following month.  Though cognizant of the need of the growing number of needy children, HOH chose to limit its admissions due to limited resources.

Through AMG International a sponsorship system was begun as a means of sustaining the financial requirements of HOH.  Under this system, Christians volunteer to support underprivileged children in desperate need of a home where they could be fed, clothed, educated, and given Christian teaching. When needy children are admitted to Home of Hope, AMG International makes the need known through its publications, so that Christians can respond and be assigned to an individual child.  In this way unfortunate children, who would be bereft of basic needs often taken for granted in more prosperous countries, can obtain help, hope, and a future which others would have been lost to them.

Many fathers had abandon ed their families and the mothers were left to eke out living for themselves and their children.  Most of the children were malnourished, lacked supervision and had no future to look forward to. In this setting, Home of Hope indeed became a ray of sunshine. It constructed a 300-square meter, single-story edifice that became the base of its operations.  Today, the fenced-off property has six buildings: a girls ‘dorm,; a boys’ dorm; a college dorm;  a pre-school learning center; a conference room with guest room and infirmary; and a multi-purpose building with  the kitchen, dining hall,  administration office and library room attached.  The facility has a basketball court and a tennis/volley ball court.

HOH houses thirty children and supports twenty eight children under educational scholarship in the community with 9 full-time workers and 4 full-time volunteers. To meet its legal requirements, Home of Hope was able to work out its registration with the Securities and Exchange Commission on December 19, 1989 and was given a license to operate by the Department of Social Welfare and Development with a license number CW-138.

The primary objective is to promote the welfare of indigent children physically, mentally, socially, emotionally and spiritually. “All children shall be entitled to the rights herein set forth without distinctions to legitimacy, or illegitimacy, sex, social status, religion, political antecedents, and other factors.” In the Child and Youth Welfare Code, P.D. No. 603 Title I, General Principles, Art.3. Right of the Child.