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What We Do
As a child care organization, SOTH shelters children for short and long term care. As a developmental organization, SOTH employs developmental programs adopted and designed to specifically address changing needs of children and youth in crisis. Its approaches usher enhancing and life changing activities to help a child experience love, care, belongingness, respect, positive growth and development in a safe and healthy environment leading them to regain self esteem, self worth, inner healing and freedom from a bitter, cruel and unhealthy life experiences.
Whom We help
Shepherd of the Hills (SOTH) has been involved with children since 1978. SOTH is passionate in rescuing and helping children. Those who lived in the streets and have been abandoned, abused, exploited, neglected, orphaned and whose future is bleak and uncertain; children who came from family living in extreme poverty and are dependent on outside assistance, students and out of school youth who are struggling to live a successful and healthy life, are the main focus of attention of SOTH.
Child Protection
The Foundation is committed to provide a well rounded environment for the growth and development of a child. It is therefore paramount in the general agenda of the Foundation to create all possible means to provide PROTECTION FOR EVERY CHILD under its care. Any degree of physical, emotional, sexual and verbal abuse of a child is prohibited. All forms of harassment is not allowed . Shepherd of the Hills is committed to maintain a safe and non – threatening environment through the implementation of stricter policies and where such policies are properly and periodically disseminated to staff, workers and children concern. In order to strengthen this commitment, the Child Protection policy is translated in a form of a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) individually signed by and between Shepherd of the Hills and every member of its board
and Staff of the organization.
How We Work
SOTH follows 6 basic strategies in its approach to children and youth:
- Family Structure
- Home Schooling
- One to One Mentoring
- Leadership Development
- Children and Youth Outreach
- Partnership
Unlike many traditional centers for children, Shepherd is not an institution in its strictest sense of the word. We promote a family environment within our Homes and use this as a focal point for all of our programs as well as our mission. For how can we raise responsible adults who can have healthy relationships in the future if they do not experience them now? Shepherd Zambales focuses on early childhood development and family care, raising children the ages of six to twelve years old. Staff are married partners, taking on the role of parents for the children in their cabins, raising them in these same family units for stability and closeness. Shepherd takes those teens who have shown responsible behavior, leadership, and strong academics within Zambales and moves them to Baguio for further leadership training and to be mentors to each other. The Home caters to a small amount of teens so that they can have the space and privacy they need to grow as adolescents but also the support of a social worker and trained staff. In Manila, Shepherd continues to monitor and strengthen its approach towards older teens. While Manila facility is for infants, the changing and growing needs of our teens has pushed its leadership to respond to such need in order to ensure that their welfare is constantly protected and provided for. Our teens have lived together since they were young, growing close as siblings, and do not have to face constant changes in residents or schedules. We promote stability in our Homes with consistent staff, programs and schedules. But we also promote flexibility to meet the needs of each child and to help them grow as an individual and together with our Shepherd family.
Each of Shepherd's Homes utilizes a different approach to home-schooling. The choice in educating our children ourselves comes from the lack of individual attention students receive in public schools along with curriculum that is mainstreamed, not tailored to their separate needs and pace. But the goal for all Homes is the same: for each of our children to receive elementary and secondary certification and from there, to go on to either university or to train in a specialized field. At Shepherd Zambales, curriculum is based with self-disciplined lesson plans that encourage each child to work at their own pace within the well-rounded subject material. Children are monitored by staff and progress in modules after checked by the teacher-in-charge. Shepherd Baguio's program is built around the Department of Education's Alternative Learning System (ALS), which offers out-of-school youth an exam once a year for elementary or secondary certification. Supportive education includes a typing and beginner computer class our teens take utilizing our four computers as well as enrichment classes in subjects from English to art to health using supplemental resources. Shepherd Manila teens train in different fields from music to home-care to administration, depending upon their strengths and aspirations. Those who have passed the ALS exam are taking musical classes while those who have not, continue to study through the same Department of Education's modules that Shepherd Baguio is utilizing.
As an important part of Shepherd is its family environment, we consider individual care an essential element in how we raise and provide for our children. Furthermore, we ensure that each of our children receives one-to-one mentoring, both by staff and by their fellow peers. In this way, a child gains an experienced mentor in a staff member who can help guide them towards positive and healthy personal development as well as a peer-mentor, one who they can look up to as a friend and a confidant. Our child who acts as the peer-mentor is not only learning an important aspect of leadership but also gaining future skills to help them reach other youth in their communities and to be successful in life themselves. 
We work towards all of our children becoming successful, independent, healthy adults. For this vision to be realized, we recognize the need for leadership building within our youth. All of our Homes incorporate leadership development into their activities, whether it be through a camp encouraging our teens to mentor the younger children or through our home-life program, showing our children responsible behavior and having them in turn, practice this. Leadership is built into Shepherd's daily schedule, as youth monitor each other in chores, help each other with school work and with learning instruments or new skills. In turn, we encourage our youth to take active roles in their communities such as through barangay cleanups, awareness workshops or music concerts in order to assert their confidence and model their positive behavior for others. 
Shepherd of the Hills' Foundation is at its heart, focused on ensuring the protection and pursuit of children's rights. We work to ingrain our children with the knowledge that they deserve love, safety and the opportunities open to all people. We also work to expand this knowledge to those children who are not so informed. By training our youth as leaders, they become mentors themselves, reaching out to local students and parish youth, role-modeling responsible, confident behavior in their communities. Shepherd Baguio teens mentor other youth at the local high school and hold fellowships with several universities and churches in the areas. In Manila, our youth have a band which performs shows in order to spread the word about Shepherd and about the situation of Filipino youth. We hope to empower youth to step forward and join us in supporting all children of the Philippines, and to show them that they too, can make a difference. 
Shepherd has a long history of partners, both within the Philippines and internationally. We would not be here if it were not for the generous support we have received from our friends and family. We would not have made it from a private home, taking in local youth from the community, to three large Homes in three different areas of the Philippines, helping children from all over the country. And our dreams would not stretch so far, as to be able to provide all our of university-bound students with full scholarships and better technical training facilities for our youth. We hope that you will become part of the Shepherd family: share in our mission and share a little of yourself with us. For alone, we can do something. But together, we can do more.
Where We Work
SOTH works primarily in three locations:
- Project 4, Quezon City, Philippines
- San Antonio, Zambales, Philippines
- Baguio City, Benguet, Philippines