Sun. Inspiration: The Lingap Center

In the 1990s, John Drake, an executive at an energy coporation and a graduate of Hillsdale College, frequently traveled to the Philippines (specifically Toledo City in the Cebu Province) on business. The squalor, poverty, disease, and even child prostitution he saw (when he wandered away from his luxury hotel resort) changed his life forever.

Mr. Drake, who is a devout Catholic, has since become known as "the orphan guy" due to his work renovating and creating the Lingap Center, a home for needy and abandoned children. (The story of how this orphanage came to be, can be read here.)

The Toledo City-based Lingap Center can clothe, feed, and house up to 100 children, ages 6-18, and it is considered a top-notch facility with an excellent financial reputation. One hundred percent of donations go to the kids, while fifty percent of the young charges spend their entire childhood at the center. Some of the 'grads' have gone on to receive substantial college degrees (like engineering) and vocational training.

Mr. Drake has even hired a "street teacher" to educate street children (who are not wards of orphanage) at a nearby park. One of these cute-as-a-button students is pictured below:



Mr. Drake, and his wife, Judy, were in Petoskey, this past week speaking at a luncheon, and their presentation was riveting. This remarkable, humble couple are truly points of light.

Mr. Drake has since quit his 'dream job' to labor as a fulltime 'missionary.' (It sounds like the latter is now his dream job.)



BTW: "Lingap" is Tagalog for "to help."

Visit the website.