Giving Purposefully

 by: Carlo Abito

New Beginnings Volunteer

I think it’s a given to give. The privileged among us have a duty to share, to give back a part of God’s gifts to the less fortunate. But I realize that the act of giving alone is not enough. One has to give intelligently as well. Purposeless and unfocused giving is a waste of valuable resources – it would almost have been better not to give. We are called to give, but also to give purposefully.

 

I work for a company called Branders.com, which started in 1999 but came to the Philippines only in 2004. Being a relatively new company, we did not have a Corporate Social Responsibility program. In 2006, some employees wanted to help the typhoon victims in Bicol, so a fund raising and donation drive was started. This had a positive effect on us because after the project, a lot of us felt that we wanted to do this on a regular basis. As Tony Meloto once said, “There are a lot of people out there who will help; they just need a good venue for it”. We felt the same thing; we wanted to help but did not know how.

 

We initiated some projects in the first quarter of 2007 – community building, donations, and visitations. We felt though that our projects were scattered and did not have any clear aim, thus we decided to focus. When we met CRIBS, we knew we found our outreach partner – but we still didn’t know what to do. Our initial projects with CRIBS were mostly a feeling-out process – bringing the toddlers and girls to fun places and spending time with them. These were good by themselves, but we felt that we weren’t really contributing something substantial. We wanted to make an impact; create something that can potentially change a life.

 

Our first option was to teach, leveraging on the conversational English expertise of our employees. Though English was useful, Ms Liway and our group talked about teaching other skills, specifically entrepreneurial skills. We thought that by teaching them these, new doors could open for them and give them more confidence in their own abilities.  So in August 2007, we started the New Beginnings chocolate-making project.

 

Throughout the project, we emphasized that the girls perform the procedures correctly so that they could produce quality chocolates. We enforced quality control. We did not want people to buy them out of pity or just because it was a charitable cause. We wanted people to buy the chocolates because they wanted to, believing that they got good value for their money.

 

To be honest, I was surprised that the project became successful. Branders had given the seed money and the girls were able to multiply this threefold.  The chocolates sold quickly: Branders employees alone finished our inventory within the first week of its making. I believe this is a testament to the girls’ workmanship. We had several chocolate sales last year and all of them have been very profitable.

 

So what’s next? With our aim to open the girls’ minds to the opportunities in entrepreneurship, we plan to teach other skills like bead and bracelet making. We hope that through these experiences, the girls feel empowered and develop a sense of pride and accomplishment in themselves. “Teaching people how to fish” - that’s what our goal is.

The Official Newsletter of CRIBS Foundation, Inc.

One of the chocolate lollipop making sessions