Praise Gardea

Graphic Designer & President of FCF

Janjay Gardea

Coordinator & Founder of FCF

With a pencil in one hand and a paper in the other of a child, the possibilities are endless. They can dream of anything. Just a little can ignite a spark, a flame that can change the world. Pass the flame to them through a small gift of a pencil and paper. Something as small and cheap as a pencil that we take for granted, that child sees it as a tool to complete their education. Let us pass the flame to the next generation.

The mission for this project is to give the proper education to children who don't have the correct means to get it by providing them with school supplies. We plan to send the items over, distribute them to the kids, get to know them, let them know about the saving grace of Christ and that they are truly loved. We believe that education is a right, not a privilege. So help us pass the flame to the next generation to become doctors, artists, nurses, lawyers, dancers, singers. Lifesavers.

Doris and George Gardea with their heads held high and one mission in their mind decided that a place of where they grew up, a place of desperation could become beautiful again. Buildings in ruin, schools struggling, the school system shattered and more, they wanted to help rewrite that story. After George Gardea went to West Africa, Liberia in 2012 (after 12 years) he saw what had become of his home, and knew something had to be done. He and his wife Doris Gardea started The MARDEC Educational Project. Doris Gardea was able take the first shipment of school supplies in June of 2015 to Liberia. The reality of the state Liberia was in did not sink in until she saw a little girl who started to cry because she didn't have a dictionary to pour her eyes, mind, and heart into. Then she was suddenly thanked by a little boy who told her this: "thank you for not forgetting us."

It may have just been one phrase but it had enough power to warm even more hearts to join in this fight of providing children in Liberia with the necessary tools for school. Their third daughter of four (Janjay Gardea) knew that if there was something, anything she could do to help this mission succeed, so she did. In her school, she started a club called Countries United with its primary goal to collect school supplies for MARDEC but quickly became more. She realized the need was not just in Liberia, but it is in so many more places around the world. MARDEC went silent and Countries United came up as a project for three years after 2016. Then Countries United went silent. Although both projects went silent, the need was still very loud and the two daughters Janjay, the third and Praise, the first decided to merge the two projects to create Future Change Foundation. Praise has been there from the start, behind the scenes doing the graphics for both projects.