Leyte-Samar Center for Change Foundation, Inc., began when Missionary Margaret Pashley realized after a certain experience involving street children in 2001 that there was no effective intervention for street children. After seeking to assist children on the streets, it became apparent that there was a need for a residential care program to begin. Rev. Pashley gathered concerned citizens from the Tacloban area, out of which a Board was formed in early 2002. On February 20, 2002, Leyte-Samar Center for Change Foundation, Inc. was registered with SEC and licensed to operate a residential care facility with DSWD.
While rented facilities met the immediate need, it was quickly realized that rented facilities were not ideal, and that alternative family care in the form of individual homes with loving house parents would be the most ideal. By God’s grace and through the generosity of Churches and individuals in Australia, funding was given to purchase land and the necessary infrastructure built so that children and youth could have a stable and safe environment in which to grow and receive a quality education. By January 2005 Center for Change moved to 2.3 hectares of a beautiful land where the first homes were ready to be occupied, and an educational facility was prepared for use. Currently Center for Change village consists of 8 children’s homes, school facilities, administration, skills training facilities, staff accommodation, community evacuation center, and is a home to between 50 to 70 children at any one time. Wherever possible children are reunited with family, when this is not possible the children continue to grow and fulfill their aspirations with the assistance of Center for Change.
Believing that all children and youth have the right of a loving, caring, stable home environment and recognising that many children and youth have chosen to live on the streets, sleeping on pavements rather than return home to their biological families, and others have been orphaned, or are at risk of physical/sexual abuse, CFC chooses to get involved and assist these children and youth who have no responsible adult caring for them.
Center for Change (CFC) is a safe village environment, where children and youth can enjoy being a part of a loving family in a safe village and where they can have their basic needs met and receive love, care, encouragement, moral values, education, and a hope and a future while preparing for reintegration with family wherever possible.
CFC upholds the UN Convention on the Rights of a Child, and Guidelines for Alternative Care. CFC does not see itself as a residential care institution, but rather a family-based solution for needy children and youth in a wholesome, safe village. Our house parents see themselves as the substitute mother/father of the children and youth in their care.
Education is of the highest priority in preparing each child/youth for their future. Most children and youth from the streets or other perilous situations have not had the opportunity for any formal education and so in the interests of helping each child/youth progress and catch up with their peers in educational attainment, CFC offers a Department of Education approved Accelerated Elementary Education Program which enables each child/youth to work at their own level and achieve proficiency at a faster rate than is afforded in the public system. This school also accepts children who live outside the CFC Village.
