Hi friends and family - 

It is a great honor to serve as a Brand, Media, and Communications (BMC) Fellow with the IJM Philippines team as we work to end the online sexual exploitation of children (OSEC). I worked with this same team when I lived in the Philippines in 2019 and 2020, and now I get to work remotely and full-time with them again! 

As many of you know, IJM's team in the Philippines focuses exclusively on combatting OSEC. In general terms, this is what this crime looks like: perpetrators in western countries lure Filipinos to sexually abuse children and to offer the images or livestreamed videos of the exploitation online. To learn more, watch IJM testify before U.S. Congress (59:20-1:10). Our team is committed to seeing the end of this disturbing and heinous crime. 

My team's job is to support and amplify the amazing work that our teams are doing, including amplifying the voices of survivor leaders. We also work to support IJM's Center to End Online Sexual Exploitation of Children (the Center) which protects children in the Philippines and scales the fight against this crime globally. My work includes project management, writing press releases, tracking rescue operations and convictions of perpetrators, content creation, designing presentation materials, assisting with public speaking workshops, collecting stories, writing internal communications, speech writing, and so much more. These projects often require coordination between teams in Asia, the US, and the UK. It is such an incredibly rewarding job! 

I have extended my time to be with the team until December 2024 (I started this role in May 2023). I love this job, and I want to invite you to join the fight with me! This position is unpaid, so I depend on generous donors to provide a stipend for the work that I do for this mission. 

Would you kindly consider making a donation? I would appreciate it if you could donate in the following ways: 

• Become a $25/monthly or $50/monthly recurring donor
• Give a one-time donation of $300 or $600 

I would also appreciate your willingness to share this with others who may want to fund this mission. If you decide to become a donor (and even if you don't!) please email me to request that you be added to my newsletter: ecastro@ijm.org. 

Thank you so much for being a part of my life and helping me accomplish something that's important to all of us: helping #ProtectKidsOnline.