Continuing a legacy of giving

Once the driving force of an organization is gone, keeping the momentum is often a colossal task for those left behind to carry on the organization’s work.

While this is the case for the members of the Alay Kapwa Foundation, the foundation still carries on and works to fulfill the mission left behind by Sister Mary Christine Tan.

The Alay Kapwa Foundation does its work where many have given up: Helping the poor break the binds of the grinding poverty that shackles them and blocks their way to a comfortable life.

Through Alay Kapwa, the residents of poor communities in Metro Manila are provided with livelihood and values education, as well as much-needed child care support and nutrition education.

It is in the armpits of the metropolis that the Alay Kapwa Foundation works, teaching indigents how to crochet, make candles, cook preserves and sweets and manufacture household items like soap and detergents.

The foundation also has a very strong focus on educating the youth by providing scholarships for elementary, secondary and college students, as well as basic education, values formation and one nutritious meal each day for pre-school children in its day-care centers.

The Alay Kapwa Foundation also provides funds for the acquisition of home lots and building or repairing beneficiaries’ homes in areas officially earmarked for the urban poor.

Rounding out Alay Kapwa’s approach to poverty alleviation are the health and sanitation services provided by neighborhood clinics, potable water supplies and toilets. The foundation also encourages the youth to participate in all its programs, projects and activities.

The items made by Alay Kapwa’s beneficiaries–glassholders, doilies and coasters crocheted from fine, silky thread; colorful, fragrant and artfully crafted scented candles; and sampalok (tamarind) candies–are sold through the aid of the Nth Millennium Foundation, which was incorporated on October 8, 1996 for the sole purpose of providing the Alay Kapwa Foundation with logistical and financial support.

Other Alay Kapwa livelihood products are fishing lures, which are made for export, and cooked and packaged foodstuffs.

The Nth Millennium Foundation official Helen Dee says her organization has members in various areas–Cebu, Paco and Pandacan in Manila, Orosa, the town of Sariaya in Quezon province and the towns of General Trias and Paliparan in Cavite.

The foundation has sought the assistance of artist Addie SyCip Cukingnan in its ongoing fundraising activities for Alay Kapwa Foundation. An art exhibit for the benefit of Alay Kapwa featuring Cukingnan’s work will open on Sept. 21 at the lobby of the Carlos P. Romulo Auditorium of RCBC Towers in Makati City.

Last year, Cukingnan donated all the proceeds of her successful solo exhibit "Flowers for Children" to the United Nations Cultural and Educational Fund (unicef). Dee says the young artist has again volunteered to donate all the proceeds from ths exhibit to the foundation.

Since Sister Christine passed away in October last year, Dee shares, the donation levels to the Alay Kapwa Foundation have decreased.

"Sister Christine was blessed with the ability to get funds even if she did not ask for them," Dee recalls, her face softening into a fond smile. "People would just go up to her and give her money."

According to Dee, Tan believed that the only way the Philippines could move forward was if the next generation was more enlightened than the present one. To reach this goal, Tan set up her educational and livelihood programs.

Dee smiles as she recounts that "Sister Christine had a way with the people in the communities she served. She knew them, knew their stories and their quirks. She also knew how to handle them and get the best out of them."

Now, the Alay Kapwa and Millennium foundation members "are working very hard to live up to Sister Christine’s standards," which is not an easy task but they are determined to keep the fires burning.

"Incidentally," Dee tells Starweek, "Sister Christine has been given a posthumous award for her service." The Bukas-Palad Award in memory of Fr. Manuel Peypoch, S.J. was conferred recently on Tan by the Ateneo de Manila University.

The Bukas-Palad award secretariat describes Tan as "many things to many people. She was a human rights advocate, a national activist, a religious leader. But most of all, she was a true friend of the poor. She broke through class boundaries and, like the model of the Good Shepherd, strode into untested waters in order to reach out to the last, the least and the lost. The outpouring of affection and appreciation after she died, from those who had experienced her goodness, was proof of her zeal and the breadth of her embrace."

Tan’s example has inspired many, including Dee, who shares Tan’s opinion that enlightenment and a solid educational base are necessary to winning the fight against poverty.

It is this one nun’s shining example that has kept the spirits of the people of the Alay Kapwa and Nth Millennium foundations up and it is what bolsters their determination to reach the goal Tan had set: To free Filipinos from poverty and bring them to God’s abundance.

Dee and other volunteers who have taken up Tan’s good work determined that her efforts will continue to bear fruit.

The upcoming Cukingnan exhibit and the fact that the Alay Kapwa Foundation has been provided with space to sell its wares at the Grepalife Building, where Dee holds office as president of House of Investments Inc., is proof of the determination of the people Tan inspired to carry on the good nun’s work of helping the poor claim their dignity and improve their lot in life.

While the government is working at ensuring that each Filipino will have access to adequate medical care, housing, nutritious food and education, organizations like the Alay Kapwa and Nth Millennium foundations are working quietly towards the goal of a better life for every Filipino.

Contact the Alay Kapwa Foundation at tel. 522-0858. The Nth Millennium Foundation may be reached at tel. 885-7811 or 886-6413.