Family 500 has a qualifying process for all families that are enrolled. This process begins with the barangay tanod.

A barangay is the native Filipino term for village. It is the smallest administrative division in the Philippines and is similar to a neighborhood or suburb.

A tanod could be described as a peacekeeping officer. They are the lowest level of law enforcement in the Philippines. They are assigned to a specific barangay, and they know the people who live there well. They guide us to the families that need help the most, and lead us away from recipients that may misuse donations.

When choosing families for our program, we look at many factors including living conditions, the number of children in the home, the ability of the head of household to read and maintain communication, and the recomendations of the tanods.

Below the barangay chairwoman has given our team special access to operate in the most poverty-stricken areas in Manilla and assigned tanods to support our efforts.