Share the Love!!

The season of Love is upon us and for sure we will all soon be assaulted with the cheesiness of this season that seems to affect even the most reasonable among us. I mean how seemingly rational and upright men and women turn to mush during Valentine’s is really corny but I must admit it can be cute in an awww -shucks way I suppose haha 😀

But folks, there is another way to share the love this season and I think this is the perfect time to share about two organizations that I support that really empowers and supports those in need of love and encouragement. These two organizations do not provide dole-outs and they empower communities via sustainable livelihood programs and most importantly by sending kids to school.

World Vision – (www.worldvision.org.ph)

I found out about World Vision  in 2002 during a case study for my MBA class. Our group got to interview one of the heads of the organization. They are able to send kids to school by providing livelihood to communities and impoverished families. Families see kids as an extra pair of hands that would help them eke out a living. World vision provides families with the skills needed so that they can be self-sufficient and so that they can let their kids to go to school.

I support one kid who is now in Grade 3. I started supporting him when he was still in day care. Each year I get updates on his grades and also a picture and a Christmas card. Each year, you’re also given a chance to give a Noche Buena basket to your sponsored child. BDW also supports a kid and we make it a point to send them Christmas baskets each year. World Vision booths can be found at all major malls and you can’t miss the celebrity sponsors and endorsers they now have.

To go directly to World Vision’s sponsorship page just click here:

Project Malasakit by Kara David – (http://karapatria.com/)

I came to know about Project Malasakit via Kara David who I follow in Twitter. I learned about an episode that she made for a documentery for GMA 7 that moved me to learn more about her foundation. Kape Para Kay Lean was about Baby Lean who was fed watered down coffee during his first years of life because his family could not afford milk and food. The pictures are heartbreaking but Kara helped the family and now Lean is undergoing therapy and regular  milk feeding (you can see the progress here )

Kara’s team emails progress reports similar to World Vision and believes in education as an empowerment tool.  The foundation’s strategy is this:

There is a misconception that money alone can solve poverty. It is very easy to give out money to the poor. But change can never be truly achieved with dole-outs. “Magkaiba ang “pagpapa-asa” at “pagbibigay ng pag-asa.” (To give charity is not the same as to give hope.)

We do not want to create parasites out of children. We want to help them help themselves.

This is the reason we set limits on funds sent to our children. We give just enough to pay for their tuition, transportation expenses, food allowance and books. We choose to give monthly allowances versus yearly so as not to tempt them to use the funds for non essential purchases.

Instead of giving funds to the scholar’s family, we course the donation through the school principal or an advisor/counselor. The children must perform in order for them to continue receiving our support.

Bottom-line: our strategy works. We not only give our children the education they need to lead productive lives; we also give them something more valuable – self worth.

These two organizations invest in educating Filipino children, our country’s future leaders. I most especially love that last line in Project Malasakit’s  strategy, “we also give them something more valuable – self worth.” Love means lifting that person up and allowing him/her to be the best that they can be. These two organizations clearly got that part right!

Project Malasakit Details:

Facebook Page: (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Project-Malasakit-Compassion-by-Kara-David/175847995762)

How to Help (lifted from their homepage)

There are five ways to support Project Malasakit.

FIRST, is to sponsor a child. For only 500-1,000 pesos a month you can send a poor child to school. Your scholar will write to you regularly through us, we will send you his/her photos and grades. To donate, log on to www.karapatria.com and click the paypal link. If you dont have a paypal account, you may send it through the bank.

BPI Katipunan Branch
Savings Account #: 3083-7033-92
Account Name: Project Malasakit Inc.

Kindly inform us of any bank transaction for our accounting. cheeneerola@gmail.com or karapatria@gmail.com

SECOND, if you cannot sponsor a child, you can donate via text through our text-donate service.

To donate to Project Malasakit:
Text MALASAKIT ON, MALASAKIT <amount – 10, 15, 25, 50, 100, 300, 500, 1000> to 4483

Available only to Smart, Talk ‘N Text, and Red mobile subscribers.

THIRD, you may help in our quarterly outreach projects in remote communities. You may donate any amount of cash or in kind.

You can send us:
– school supplies,
– slippers,
– clothes,
– books,
– food supplies,
– noodles,
– rice,
– personal hygiene products, etc.

These are the kind of things we bring to our quarterly outreach projects.

FOURTH, you may volunteer in repacking the goods. We usually have our repacking one week before the scheduled outreach date. Details are posted on Facebook, Twitter and this website.

FIFTH, you may volunteer in the actual outreach and participate in gift-giving or distribution of goods. This is an out of town trip — could be a day trip or an overnight trip depending on location. Details such as schedule and expenses are usually posted on Facebook, Twitter and this website.

For donations and schedule of outreach/repacking, email:

cheeneerola@gmail.com
jjeeiiaahh@yahoo.com

World Vision Details

Sponsorhip Page: )

Celebrate caring giving and sharing all year round! Sponsorship is a way for you to make a real and life-changing difference for ONE precious boy or girl in need, along with his/ her family and community. Your regular sponsorship pledges – of P600 a month, or P20 a day (P7,200 annually) – will make sure those children are going to schools and are in good health.