Making GK a global brand

SAN DIEGO, California – Gawad Kalinga partners, donors and volunteers all over the US gathered in a summit here to re-affirm their support to the movement and at the same time plan to scale up their operations to make GK a truly global brand.

The GK Builders Summit, with the theme “Building One Global Army Against Poverty,” also became a venue for the Couples for Christ (CFC), GK advocates, partners and donors to show their solidarity in continuing with the work of Gawad Kalinga at a time when the CFC split brought challenges to GK and CFC in the US.

“Our journey continues. Despite many obstacles in our way, we persevere. We know that our efforts to build a better world will never be in vain for as long as the Lord is our driving force,” Ancop (Answer the Cry of the Poor) USA executive director Rose Cabrera told hundreds of CFC and GK advocates at the summit held at Marriott Hotel here.

Ancop Foundation USA is a non-profit corporation that implements the sustainable and holistic program of GK. Established in 2000, it consisted initially of a few volunteers, mainly CFC members.

Today, Ancop USA has hundreds of partners and volunteers across the United States and has funded and built over 300 GK villages in the Philippines.

“We are poised to take over and bring GK all over the USA. Our goal is to build 2,000 new GK communities this year,” Cabrera said.

GK executive director Luis Oquinena cited the urgency of scaling up the work of GK but in expanding the movement, he emphasized the importance of faith and praised the CFC for its role in growing GK.

Oquinena exhorted the audience and reminded them that CFC and GK are one and united in the vision to uplift the lives of poor Filipinos, make them first-class citizens and the Philippines a first world country.

GK champion Tony Meloto said GK has gone beyond being a charitable organization into a global model of development.

GK has penetrated South Africa and the latter is looking at the GK model to uplift its poor citizens.

Meloto said GK is now the Filipino brand that will attract prestigious universities in the US like Harvard, Georgetown University and Yale to study GK as a template for development.

“GK has gone beyond plain philanthropy. In scaling up our operations, we want to make GK a global brand. We want to build a brand that Harvard is interested in. GK is a Filipino brand and has an image of excellence and nobility and that world-class brand comes from a third-world country,” said Meloto.