Hero Foundation, Inc.

Help Educate and Rear Orphans (HERO) Foundation, Inc. has been helping the children and dependent siblings left behind by military personnel who were permanently incapacitated or killed in action. Since it was founded in 1988, HERO has helped almost 3,000 orphans finish their education and pursue their dreams. More than 1,200 of these scholars have already graduated from college and are now their families’ breadwinners.

HERO Foundation hopes to continue to work together with you in honoring the sacrifices of their fathers, ensuring that their children’s education needs will be taken care of.

Gleach’s Story

“Hindi ko nakilala si papa, kasi 9 months old pa lang po ako nung nawala siya,” (I never got to know papa because I am just 9 month old when he passed away) shares Gleach Soteo, a 17-year-old grade 11 student from Surigao Education Center.

She couldn’t recall anything about him but whenever she looks at it, she always feels so proud of his father wearing the uniform in those pictures.

Gleach is one of the top students in her class. She is also part of a student organization in her school where she actively participates in extra-curricular activities.

Her hobby is reading and her favorite subjects are science and history. She also loves swimming just like her father.

Swimming, it seems, was Gleach’s connection with her late father.

She is an athlete and won an award in a swimming competition.
Whenever free, she tries to practice which gave her more confidence and happiness knowing that this is her father’s favorite sport.

But more than an athlete and a student leader, Gleach is a scholar of HERO Foundation.

How HERO Helps
HERO invites former scholars turned professionals to give inspirational talks/seminars in regular general assemblies, and assists scholars in finding on-the-job training and employment opportunities.

Gleach has nothing but gratefulness to the foundation, and to the people who extend their help to scholars like her. She shares, “Ako ay nagpapasalamat sa lahat ng tulong sa akin ni HERO Foundation sa aking pag-aaral at sa lahat ng mga naulilang kagaya ko. ” (I am grateful to HERO Foundation’s continued support in assisting my educational needs and for helping the families of fallen soldiers.)

The majority of the families of these heroes relied solely on their fathers to provide for the needs of the entire family. Alas, when the soldier who is usually the father and breadwinner of the family makes the ultimate sacrifice for our country, the family is left with a very limited source of income.

That is why HERO has made it its mission to ensure that the children of our heroes will not only finish their education but will also be gainfully employed so that they may help their families live more comfortably and become productive members of society.