"I want to be the President of the country someday. I want to serve the people especially the poor children like me so that they can also get an education."

This is the dream of Lester (second from right). He is a Grade 2 student from Tondo, who goes to school daily with his new uniform and shoes, eats nutritious foods with fellow classmates during recess time, and enjoys a normal student life in Makati. Lester does not come from a privileged family. In fact, he is one of the 150 poor but gifted children who receive education from the Center for Excellence in Public Elementary Education or CENTEX, a school assisted by the Ayala Foundation, and complementarily funded by the Children's Hour in 2000. He excels in subjects like Mathematics, Integrated Language Arts, Filipino, Science, Computer Language Arts, and Social Studies. His average grade does not go below A-.

Lester is just one of over 3,000 children and youth who are benefiting from the Children's Hour. The Children's Hour is a fund raising program initiated by the International Youth Foundation that aims to harness finances for children's projects and programs all over the world. In the Philippines, the campaign was launched in 1999 and spearheaded by 19 top leaders from business, industry and civil society sectors with Ayala Foundation and the Children and Youth Foundation of the Philippines (CYFP) as institutional coordinators.

To date, some P 28.5 M have been given as grants to 27 organizations including CENTEX, all of whom have pledged to carry on the work for the Filipino children and youth through health, educational, and psycho-social programs all over the country.

The most immediate beneficiaries of the Children's Hour fund were the ten hospitals and medical centers that needed various medical equipment for their pediatric wards. The equipment helped in the examination and monitoring of illness as well as resuscitation of indigent child patients. These institutions received P18.2M from Children's Hour and its cooperating partner, the Elena P. Tan Foundation. They are the Western Visayas Medical Center; Corazon Locsin Montelibano Memorial Regional Hospital; Department of Pediatrics, West Visayas State University Hospital; Department of Pediatrics; College of Medicine; Philippine General Hospital; Jose R. Reyes Memorial Center; Vicente Sotto General Hospital; Department of Pediatrics, University of Santo Tomas; Department of Pediatrics, Baguio General Hospital; Zamboanga General Hospital; and the Child Protection Unit- Philippine General Hospital.

Among the children touched by improved medical centers and hospitals is Marian, a 17-year-old moderate to severe mental retardate. Her mother brought her to PGH-CPU after a stranger sexually abused Marian while she was at Luneta. After four days being held by the stranger, Marian managed to escape and go home. Immediately interviewed and assisted by a pediatrician and social worker on duty, she was given medication for major depression, an effect of her traumatic experience. The medicine was part of Children's Hour contribution that includes the treatment and legal expenses of physically and sexually abused children like Marian. Now, more mentally stable, she will be able to attend a special school soon.