The International Justice Mission has made The #MightyMateo Legacy its official donation campaign against online sexual exploitation of children (OSEC).
Mateo's legacy
We’ve always believed that God has a purpose for each one of us. Through our journey of giving Mateo back to the Lord, we’ve realized that even a seven-month-old baby has a purpose in life and can leave a legacy.
Mateo has brought people from all over the world to pray together. He has given an opportunity to many of our family and friends to show love in action.
Shortly after Mateo’s passing, a few friends asked whether there was a charity that we would invite people to donate to in Mateo’s name. This has inspired us to continue our existing efforts in fighting online sexual exploitation of children (OSEC) in partnership with the International Justice Mission–this time, in Mateo’s name.
A justice warrior
Mateo, as young as he was, was our little justice warrior.
The day that Mateo was conceived in 2018 was right after a major fundraising event that we organised through our platform Giving is Social. And that event was our first time supporting the fight against OSEC in the Philippines.
Mateo’s birth story has been very symbolic also for us. Joanna was working on her first book about giving back and how effective giving is consistent with our duty to fight for justice. It was only after Joanna finished the manuscript of the book did Mateo decide to come out. It was as if he was already making us know that he’s in full support of our mission as a family.
During his lifetime, Mateo had attended the Justice Conference in Singapore, counting him as its youngest delegate, an IJM talk about OSEC, and many meetings in preparation for our fundraiser in 2019 for IJM’s anti-OSEC efforts.
With Mateo’s easy-to-care-for personality, he’s allowed us to dedicate time to advocating for justice.
We invite you to join us in our family’s mission, and in supporting Mateo’s legacy, to fight the online sexual exploitation of children in the Philippines.
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Video content as of Dec. 2019. Statistics have changed since.
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What is OSEC?Here, we talk about the reality of online sexual exploitation of children with a focus on the Philippines where the crime is rampant.
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This Mother's Day..."It's sad that I'll never get to celebrate Mother's day with Mateo. But I'm very glad that I get to rejoice being his mother who will uphold his legacy every single day, for the rest of my life. If you're thinking of sending me flowers, thank you! But may I ask that you send rescue instead? Michael will buy me flowers, don't worry! Watch this video where I and 21 other Filipino mothers boldly ask for the same."
- Joanna |
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A community that prays together and loves others—that is our #MightyMateo's legacy.
You've helped raise USD 100,000!
Here's an update posted by Joanna Blandingon Dec. 22, 2020 on her Facebook page.
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Over a year ago, Mike and I started our journey with the International Justice Mission.
André was around two, and Mateo was just a few months old. Having kids was one of our motivations to fight online sexual exploitation of children (OSEC) in the Philippines with IJM. Countless children our kids' age are being victimized by this horrific crime. We can't unhear what we've already heard.
Through our initial fundraiser in December 2019 called "Carols for a Cause," many individuals and groups have made their pledge to join the mission of ending OSEC. A few months after, we lost Mateo. With the inspiration from friends, we decided to start a fund for IJM under his name called "The Mighty Mateo Legacy."
We simply honored our gifts of connecting people and communications. There's nothing magical and exceptional about what we're doing. BUT, the people who've heard our and IJM's message have responded, and that is what is outstanding.
Through dozens of peoples' efforts and giving, we ALL have raised over USD 100,000 (PhP4. 8 million) since December 2019. That has enabled the Philippine team of IJM to conduct over a dozen operations resulting in the rescue of 94 children, and the arrest of 22 traffickers. That is almost a hundred precious lives turned around from exploitation, and countless trafficking efforts stopped--through responsive people's giving.
We got together recently with some of our friends supporting IJM and some of IJM's leadership to wrap up a year's fundraising efforts. It was very encouraging and inspiring to hear that our friends are set to keep raising awareness and funds to end OSEC during our generation. We've also heard a testimony from a survivor who is now leading restoration efforts for other victims globally. We are once again reminded of our family's mission and the purpose of our loss.
THANK YOU to all of you who've given to this mission! You are truly heroes!!!
You can also join in this mission. Message me if you want to be connected to IJM.
*Photos below are from Dec 6, 2019 at the beautiful The Masons Table in Singapore.
.........................
Over a year ago, Mike and I started our journey with the International Justice Mission.
André was around two, and Mateo was just a few months old. Having kids was one of our motivations to fight online sexual exploitation of children (OSEC) in the Philippines with IJM. Countless children our kids' age are being victimized by this horrific crime. We can't unhear what we've already heard.
Through our initial fundraiser in December 2019 called "Carols for a Cause," many individuals and groups have made their pledge to join the mission of ending OSEC. A few months after, we lost Mateo. With the inspiration from friends, we decided to start a fund for IJM under his name called "The Mighty Mateo Legacy."
We simply honored our gifts of connecting people and communications. There's nothing magical and exceptional about what we're doing. BUT, the people who've heard our and IJM's message have responded, and that is what is outstanding.
Through dozens of peoples' efforts and giving, we ALL have raised over USD 100,000 (PhP4. 8 million) since December 2019. That has enabled the Philippine team of IJM to conduct over a dozen operations resulting in the rescue of 94 children, and the arrest of 22 traffickers. That is almost a hundred precious lives turned around from exploitation, and countless trafficking efforts stopped--through responsive people's giving.
We got together recently with some of our friends supporting IJM and some of IJM's leadership to wrap up a year's fundraising efforts. It was very encouraging and inspiring to hear that our friends are set to keep raising awareness and funds to end OSEC during our generation. We've also heard a testimony from a survivor who is now leading restoration efforts for other victims globally. We are once again reminded of our family's mission and the purpose of our loss.
THANK YOU to all of you who've given to this mission! You are truly heroes!!!
You can also join in this mission. Message me if you want to be connected to IJM.
*Photos below are from Dec 6, 2019 at the beautiful The Masons Table in Singapore.
