Our Story

Our story started in 2011 over a cup of coffee at Bo’s Coffee Shop in Cebu, Philippines with a conversation between Paul and Joel about the hard work of the caregivers at the Children’s Shelter of Cebu, a child caring agency in Cebu where Joel was working. Joel recognized that many of them faced unstable housing situations. This conversation inspired the dream to build houses for the caregivers. So, we began to raise funds for land and houses to make the dream a reality.

We organized a partnership with Habitat for Humanity–Minnesota and Habitat for Humanity–Philippines. This partnership and the funds we raised led to the building of 64 homes for the Filipino caregivers and employees at the Children’s Shelter of Cebu. After this work was complete and the partnership ended, we moved forward independently to build more houses at CSC Happy Homes Village. Thus, we became PhaseTwoCebu™ in 2019.

As PhaseTwoCebu, we are conducting four types of projects to support underserved communities in Cebu. Our Housing Project is aimed at providing homes to more employees of the Children’s Shelter of Cebu and other families in need of housing. Our Libraries Project aims to create libraries for schools and community programs, as well as provide training for teachers and librarians. PhaseTwoCebu’s Scholarship Project is committed to helping college students by providing scholarships and a holistic mentoring program. Our Communities Project aims at supporting local community initiatives in literacy and livelihood. We continue to respond to needs that come to our attention in these four areas through our friends and volunteers in Cebu.