gk as a 25th year homecoming activity

8/14/2019 GK as a 25th Year Homecoming Activity

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Gawad Kalinga as 25th anniversary activity

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Summary

This is a proposal to make Colegio San Agustin Batch 85s 25th

year homecomingactivities not only a celebration of friendship and memories, but to use the event togive back to our community and country. It is a proposal to make the homecoming notonly social, but socially relevant.

The proposed partner in this endeavor is Gawad Kalinga, which is currently working onits goal of providing 700,000 homes, in seven thousand communities, in seven yearsor the GK777 social movement.

Batch 85 proposes to initiate two projects. The first is to jumpstart the establishment ofthe Colegio San Agustin GK Village in a pre-identified site in Taguig City, near the C-6

highway to be completed by the shores of Laguna de Bay. The second is toencourage Batch 85ers of other high schools to contribute two homes each to aproposed All 85 GK Village in the same location.

CSA Batch 85s financial commitment to these two endeavors or the funding of at least12 homes is a conservative PhP 1.131 million.

The timeframe is to raise the funds during the period August 2008- February 2009.Start and continue construction from March-December 2009. Inaugurate the village on


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March 2010. Celebrate mass and a street party with the beneficiaries on August 28,2010.

In order to achieve this, we need the faith, commitment, dedication, persistence, andsacrifice- thepadugo and heroic actions of all in our batch.

Introduction

The concept of celebration is the act of recognizing something either individually or agroup. This something could be an achievement, the passage of time and phases oflife (anniversary), and most importantly, the recognition that one has grown andlearned something. The act of recognition could be spontaneous or highly organized.The point though should be that the celebration does not signify the end of thissomething, but the continuation of achievement, ageing with grace, and continuedlearning and growth.

As we commence planning our 25th anniversary from high school and more than 25

years as friends, we would like this 25th anniversary to celebrate our achievements,our culture, our friendships, and what we stand for: family, friends, faith, and food(good food and drink), and community. As we also look at how to incorporate civicinitiatives into our celebration, may we respectfully suggest that Gawad Kalinga be onecelebration partner?

Why Gawad Kalinga?

Gawad Kalinga (GK- to give care) is an ambitious community developmentmovement scaling up into a nation building movement seeking to address poverty inPhilippine urban slums. In 2003, it initiated GK777 to build 700,000 homes in 7,000

communities, in seven years through sharing of time and resources, massivemobilization of volunteers and "padugo"- "bleeding for the cause" and modeling"patriotism in action". Since then, it has built over 25,000 homes in over 1,000communities for the poor and initiated activities in several other countries, withintentions of going global

GK claims their "transformed" communities are peace and faith zones, environmentallyhealthy, empowered, and productive through initiatives on shelter, youth development,health, food, and livelihood. GKs success led to the GK Executive Director/Founderand the organization winning the 2006 Ramon Magsaysay awards for individual andorganizational community leadership and other similar awards.

Logistical support initially came from its at least 100,000 core volunteers, mostlymembers of the million member Catholic lay ministry, Couples for Christ (CFC) withchapters in 160 countries. In 2006, GK initiated GK1MB to recruit one million hero-volunteers (bayani) to geometrically increase the establishment of "transformed"communities. GK now has offices in 20 countries. While GK maintains that it does notactively solicit donations and leaves it to potential supporters to discern how they canhelp, it has received funding pledges for thousands of homes. GK claims their sitesare non-sectarian, multi-sectoral, non-partisan and non-discriminatory. Eachvolunteer is a hero (bayani) to one another, which leads to community-wide assistance


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(bayanihan). Replicated over time sand space, bayanihan then stimulates nation(bayan) building.

Seven point program of sharing of time and resources, massive mobilization of volunteers and partners,

and "padugo"- "bleeding for the cause" and modeling "patriotism in action".

As seen from above, Gawad Kalinga:

1. is about spirituality;2. promotes family values;3. promotes Philippine culture and international cooperation;4. initiates community organization and development;5. promotes economic productivity, sufficiency, and a moral economy;6. inculcates environmental values and environmental programs;7. seeks to improve/spur education, values transformation, and capacity building;

and,8. is changing the nature of politics in the Philippines.

Why is GK relevant to our 25th year homecoming?

The year 2010 is our 25th anniversary year.

It is also the culmination of GKs GK777 program. As we can see it has a long way togo, inspite of the fact that more than 300 mayors, 150 schools and universities, over100 corporations, and tens of thousands of volunteers have mobilized and acted.

We think that as Filipinos (or those in love with the Philippines), we need to fullysupport this Philippine creation and initiative. Gawad Kalingas model will eventually


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become the brand name of the Philippines and it is something to be proud of. This isthe most holistic, comprehensive, and equitable model for solving poverty andinequality in Philippine society.

What better way to co-celebrate our 25th anniversary with the achievement of 700,000homes, in 7,000 communities, in seven years?

Gawad Kalinga urgently needs our help in achieving this.

Others have suggested other organizations. We can pursue this as well but within thecontext of GK. Afterall, GK presents its communities as convergence zones for othergroups. For example, the Make-A-Wish Foundation can identify beneficiaries in GKcommunities. Support to the Adeodatus Foundation or other educational foundationscan be conditioned on choosing recipients from GK sites. Since GK is open to otherfaith-based groups, they can also assist in GK sites.

Please consider Gawad Kalinga in making our 25th anniversary celebrations. It does

not have to be monetary donations. It could be through lending our time, presence,talents. It could be active promotion and advocacy of GK. Any kind of help is neededand will be appreciated.

We should also urge those from other schools and universities to consider GK as a co-celebrant/beneficiary to make the impact even more significant. An All 85 GK Village isa sign of solidarity for our batch/generation and sends a very strong message that ourcountry needs unity in the quest for nation building. We are modeling this unity inaction through GK.

The Proposal

Based on the discussions and agreements reached during the past two monthlygeneral meetings, smaller team meetings, and email exchanges, the batch is exploringthe feasibility of making the 25th anniversary socially relevant by:

1. Initiating the funding of a Colegio San Agustin Gawad Kalinga Village in TaguigCity, to be initially composed of at least 10 homes; and,

2. Initiating the establishment of anAll 85 Gawad Kalinga Village also in Taguig CityThe village will be composed of one or two homes donated by each of the Batch

85ers of different schools in Manila. This idea of ours has gained the support andcommitment of the Batch 85ers of Xavier, Poveda, STC, Lourdes, Southridge,among others. The other private schools will most likely support this initiative. Weare looking at 16 schools participating.

The proposed GK Villages in Taguig City are near the C-6 highway to be completednear the shores of Laguna de Bay. The beneficiaries are informal dwellers relocatedfrom the former AFPOVAI site in Fort Bonifacio. Close to 200 families were affected inthe relocation. About 176 families agreed to be relocated to this site. Eleven two-storey buildings, composed of 16 units each will be constructed. Construction of two


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buildings started last June 1, 2008. While the land has been secured and is beingstabilized (backfilling), funding has been secured for only 46 units. Thus, our help willbe very much appreciated. See pictures below.

Taguig City officials aim to develop the land bythe shores of Laguna de Bay into a NewportBeach, CA. They want to involve their people,notably informal dwellers (squatters), in thisendeavor. Hence they partnered up with GK

Taguig is composed of The Fort and The Poor. LGU officials andGK want to erase this distinction, symbolized by C5, which

separates the two enclaves

A view of Fort Bonifacio from the 2nd

storey of theGK building. Note open expanse.

This GK Village will be of the condominium

type. Sixteen units per two-storey building.

Beneficiaries contribute their sweat equity. Theland was bought by a group of retired militaryofficers who owned the land in Fort Bonifacio.


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Setting up the two GK villages in Taguig City is desirable because:

GK Poveda Village, Taguig City, 2007

1. Taguig City and Gawad Kalinga launched last August 8, 2008, the TaguigDesigner City initiative at The Fort. The goal is to develop Taguig as the newMakati, by, among other things, helping the informal dwellers in Taguig moveinto their own homes. The Taguig LGU has partnered up with GK in thisinitiative and has lent GK its staff, available land, and resources. This is a goodopportunity to participate in an innovative township development throughgovernment-civil society partnership;

2. On October 2008, there will be a GK Expo, where they will launch the PeoplesAct, wherein 5 Million of the countrys most generous will commit to taking careof the countrys five million poor. Our Batch 85 initiatives will also fit squarelywith this endeavor;

3. The site in Taguig City is close to CSA Makati. Any programs of immersion,assistance, enhancement programs that the other CSA batches or the currentstudents, faculty, staff, and priests want to initiate or participate in will begeographically friendly. The goal is to establish a deep and long lastingrelationship between Augustinians and the GK beneficiaries.

Costings

When GK started a home was only PhP50,000. Home costs have risen due to:

1. The Peso-dollar fluctuation;2. Significant rise in construction materials;3. The need to make homes typhoon proof, i.e., Bicol GK homes were battered. It

is costly to rebuild;4. The need to have more "professional" builders helping out. Volunteers

sometimes do a bad job and the work needs to be redone;5. The need to support caretaker teams, community organizers involved in the

day-to-day interaction with GK beneficiaries; and,6. Contingencies.


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There is a difference between U.-S donations and Philippine-donations. U.S.donations are now at $2,300/home and are tax-deductible. ANCOP-GK USA builds infunding for admin expenses and for its full-time workers in the Philippines. There arenow 320 US-funded villages out of the over 1,000 GK villages. There is a need to do alot of coordination work and to move on to the other GK programs, i.e. health,education, etc. Hence, ANCOP USA wants to play a direct role in its villages and thus

does monitoring and corrective action work.

Please look at: http://www.ancopusa.org/donation/ for the online donation form (creditcards accepted), and

http://venus.whbdns.com/~arcware/GKDonation/GK%20ANCOP%20USA%20VPF%202008%202%5B1%5D.28.pdf for the GK Village Builder Pledge form.

For Philippine-based donations, it is PhP85,000 only because it is expected that thedonor will be more proactive. This means not only giving money but investing time andtalent in the GK village. GK want people, groups, corporations, schools, etc. to take

ownership, adopt a village, spend time, build relationships, etc. with the GKbeneficiaries. The goal is to heal the "broken relationships between rich and poor,powerful and powerless." Please see:

http://www.gawadkalinga.org/howtohelp.htm

So, the "donations" from local individuals/groups will actually be more than PhP85,000if one is to quantify time, effort, services, etc. expended.

CSA Batch 85s commitment is 12 homes; 10 for the CSA GK Village and 2 for the All85 GK Village. We assume that half or six of the homes will be donated by batchmates

living abroad, and the other half in the Philippines. This means:

$2,300/home x 6 homes = $13,800 at $1=$45 is PhP 621,000PhP85,000/home x 6 homes= PhP 510,000TOTAL PhP 1,131,000.00

Do note that while we commit to 12 homes, we hope and will work on encouragingother CSA batches and current students, faculty, staff and even CSA to sponsor theirown homes in this CSA GK Village. We will only jumpstart this initiative to inspire andlead by example of sacrifice,padugo.


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Timeline

Tasking

Aug. 8, 2008: launch of TaguigDesigner City

October 2008: Gawad Kalinga Ex

Aug. 2008-January 2009: Fundraising for 12 homes

February 2009: break ground

February- Dec. 2009: build homraise more funds for more home

March 2010: Inaugurate GK Vill

August 28, 2010: Mass andcelebration atCSA and All 85 GKvillages

1. Organize and task

2. Two villages: the All 85 Villageand CSA Village

3. Our cost: 12 villages and out-of-pocket

4. Fund-raising and PADUGO

5. Get Augustinian community andother Batch 85 schools to buy in

6. Document, present, advocate,participate

7. Celebrate!


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Contact:

Alan Austriaco 0920.925.2153

Marisol Casapao 1.818.317.2345 [email protected]

Jocelyn Tandiama-Barles 0917.812.3344 [email protected]

Monchot Ongsiako 0918.923.8730 [email protected]

Nilo Rodriguez 0917.850.7255 [email protected]

Hecky Villanueva 1.520.481.9680 [email protected]

gk as a 25th year homecoming activity

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