Month: April 2021

Despite the dark clouds and cold rain on 19 December 2020, the children of various communities in Dasmariñas, Cavite were still filled with Christmas cheer because of Faith Family Foundation’s annual Christmas gift-giving. In partnership with Faith Family Church’s Children Ministry, and through generosity of Ms. Lalaine Ortega and Ms. Gibb Alfafara, the Foundation distributed school supplies and Jollibee food packs to approximately 220 children.

Every December, the Children Ministry, under the leadership of Ms. Jena Manabat, usually hosts a Christmas Party for children in the surrounding areas of Sampaloc 3. In view of renewed health protocols, the Foundation opted for a gift-giving event instead—volunteers from the Children Ministry went to their respective communities and gave out Jollibee food packages and school supplies. The Foundation has been blessed with donations from generous sponsors—the Jollibee food packages were donated by Ms. Lalaine Ortega and Ms. Gibb Alfafara while various other donations helped in the purchase of school supplies and face masks for the children. The children were enthusiastic about receiving the school supplies which would help in their school modules, and were overjoyed receiving the classic Jollibee lunch. Digging into their food with fervor, children from different barangays in Sampaloc 3 still felt the Christmas spirit even with the gloomy weather.

• 

• 

The pandemic has changed life as we know it; this goes for the activities of the Church and the Foundation. Grand Christmas parties may not be held for a long time but the spirit of Christmas and Jesus’ birth are enough cause for celebration. This year’s Christmas may not be the same as it used to be but for these children, who are no strangers to hardships, these little moments of respite and expressions of God’s love for them will be imprinted in their hearts forever.

• 

• 

• 

In collaboration with the Faith Family Church’s Kids Ministry, Faith Family Foundation launched the beginning of its Module Help Project on 25 November 2020. This project is aimed to help struggling students, whose parents are unable to give them assistance in their school work, cope with the challenges of online education. A total of 80 students have currently enlisted in Module Help with the number expected to grow as the project flourishes.

With the suspension of face-to-face classes by the Department of Education, the modules are the only mode of learning students can access, especially in low-income areas with poor internet connection. These modules, however, may be difficult to answer as students lack the proper resources and focus on passing requirements instead of learning.

Faith Family Foundation’s Module Help program takes volunteer teachers from communities to gather in small groups and teach students the material they encounter in their modules. Following proper IATF guidelines, these small groups are designed to help students with their modules and give them an opportunity to be in a learning environment. Presently, fifteen qualified volunteer teachers spend around four hours teaching students in various communities once a week to help them prepare for the submission of their modules.

The government has been forced to issue orders of lockdown across the country to help control its contamination. The lockdown has been eased since then, however, schools and many establishments still remain closed. As a result, many students and workers have been left in a limbo. Not all students have internet access or the technology to help them cope with the new normal of the academe, which is why the Faith Family Foundation seeks to fill in this gap.

Faith Family Foundation seeks to reach out to these people by launching a project to distribute workbooks for students to work on while schools are closed. The project needs to collect funds to help 175 students benefit from this program. The funds will be used for the printing of all the workbooks for students of all levels.

It was a cool morning of December 7; some men and women of Brgy. Piela Dasmarinas Cavite scurried to the covered court of Piela Elementary School. Their purpose: to join a zumba fitness party. Some of them were already attending a zumba class on a regular basis, while some others were not really into physical fitness but were nonetheless ready to groove that morning.

The zumba event was a fundraising gesture of the Intercessory Ministry of Faith Family Church for its welfare arm, the Faith Family Foundation. The money raised from this event was intended to serve as an initial seed fund of the planned Faith Family Christian School.

The participants danced energetically from 7 am to 9 am via the millennial sound and the dance hits of the 80s and 90s. Some would rest after a few songs , only to come back recharged, while some others stayed dancing the entire run. Zumba coaches Dr. Ana Marie Afuang and Willex Abanez led the activity. Hot pandesal and mineral water greeted them all when they finally retired from dancing to a series of music that literally made them soaking wet.

The event was also FFC’s way to reach out to the community as part of its mission.

From May 6 to May 10, Faith Family Church’s Kids Ministry, in partnership with the Faith Family Foundation, held its annual flagship event, the Vacation Bible School. With the theme Shield Squad, this year’s Vacation Bible School had a double purpose: to educate children on stories in the Bible while teaching them disaster risk reduction and management. Throughout the week, over 150 children attended the Vacation Bible School, participating in various activities, such as games, storytelling, and arts and crafts.

This year saw an increase of participants with over 150 attendees. Children were separated into three levels: Keepers, Guardians, and Protectors. The Keepers were the youngest of the bunch, aged 4-6, but nonetheless as enthusiastic as the older children. The Guardians, aged 7-9, were the most eager in answering their teachers’ questions. Aged 10-12, the Protectors were the oldest group, taking care of the younger ones but still absorbing their lessons. Shield Squad: Secure in God’s Protection sought to remind children that they were not just victims, but heroes in their own right because of God’s protection.

To accomplish this, volunteers and teachers connected various disasters to stories in the Bible, such as Noah and what to do during a flood, to let children know how God’s people can overcome disasters and even help other people during it. To further ensure that the children would be prepared in the face of disasters, NDRRMC-Dasma held a seminar to orient children and their parents on what to do in certain disasters. The topics they discussed ranged from first aid to methods of evacuation during earthquakes. The children eagerly listened and were even able to demonstrate the knowledge they gained.

The Vacation Bible School is considered as the Kids Ministry’s flagship event because of how it touches the lives of children in the community. Head of the Kids Ministry, Jena Manabat, says that the Vacation Bible School “helps shape the moral values of the children that are based on the Word of God”. Throughout the week, the children were cared for, fed nutritiously by the gracious volunteers, and taught the Word of God by the teachers. During the graduation ceremony, certain children, such as 10 year-old Tristan Luciano, were handpicked to share their experience with all of them expressing how God’s presence in their lives has impacted them positively. While this year’s Vacation Bible School is finished, the work of making sure that children in the community are able to feel God’s love is far from over. The Faith Family Church and its charity arm are determined to follow up on the gains of this VBS by continuing their work with the kids and the community.

The Faith Family Foundation, in cooperation with its mother unit, the Faith Family Church, held a Missionary for a Day activity on February 18, 2018 . The Church’s Intercession Ministry visited nine barangays in Dasmarinas and GMA, Cavite to bring Christ’s salvation closer to the community. In this activity called “Missionary for a Day”, groups of men, women, and young people prayed for healing, financial provisions, and salvation for families. Holding on to a belief that every Christian is a missionary and every non-believer is a mission field, they diligently walked their way to their assigned barangays, withstanding the humid weather.

They visited the poorest members of the community and ministered to the people who were living in the direst conditions. Some of the cases petitioned for were a stroke patient, an infant with a rare disease, a woman struggling for money, and many others. The collected prayers were prayed for round-the-clock through the Intercession Ministry’s 24-7 Prayer Chain. A small pack of baked cookies was given to each visited household. Children also received colorful booklets to learn about the love of Christ. This event illustrates FFC’s vision to bring the Good News of salvation to the community and beyond. Those who were visited felt blessed that despite their circumstances, someone is thinking of them.

The participants experienced a double portion of love and joy as they retreated from their sowing, in anticipation of a good harvest for the greater glory of God.

Shouts of excitement and peals of laughter could be heard at Faith Family Church as the Faith Family Foundation in collaboration with the Children Ministry hosted the annual Children’s Christmas party on December 22, 2018. With the generous donations of various sponsors, 190 children were able to eat heartily, play games, and celebrate Christmas. As an annual project of Faith Family Foundation, the Children’s Christmas party serves as a way for underprivileged children of the community to truly feel the spirit of Christmas.

As early as 7:30 AM, the children enthusiastically started to arrive, greeted by the friendly volunteers of the Children Ministry. While waiting for the party, the children were asked about what they like most about Christmas. They could not help but exclaim, “gifts!” The prospect of receiving gifts greatly energized the children even more as they went around themselves and talked about what they gifts they might get from the party. Opening the party was a short message from FFC’s pastor, Nel Trinidad, telling the children how much God loves them as He had so graciously prepared this party with them in mind. This rings true as the party would not have happened without God touching the hearts of the numerous sponsors that donated to the party. Continuing the party, the children participated in different games.

Whether looking for chocolate coins in containers of flour or trying not to let balloons fall to the ground, the happiness of the children was impossible to miss. Holding up the prizes they received from the games, their smiles grew even bigger. Having been exhausted by the games, lunch was next on the program much to the elation of the children. Sponsored by Ms Gibb Alfafara and Ms Lalaine Ortega, a classic Filipino lunch was served: Jollibee chickenjoy and spaghetti. After digging into their lunches with gusto, the children finally received their gifts. Grouped by age, they were able to choose the gifts they wanted from a spread of gifts displayed at the bottom of the stage. Ranging from dolls to cars, there was something for every child. Watching the children open their gifts and play with them was the most magical moment of the party. These children, who have gone through many hardships, were bursting with joy at what they received whether it was a toy or school supplies.

“The purpose of the party is to make children happy especially those who are in the community around the Church who are less fortunate with the message of hope that is in Jesus,” states Jena Manabat, the head of the Children Ministry. Indeed, the Christmas party made the children overflow with happiness. The spirit of Christmas was also shared to them through this simple party, exposing them to the joy that Jesus can bring.

Every person has the right to be protected from violence and abuse, and since children are especially vulnerable from such abuses, it is important that extra care should be given to their cause. Bullying is a form of violence and abuse which happens mostly in schools. Children spend more time in schools than at home and cases of bullying have been reported occurring inside school premises. For this reason and in accordance with the Anti Bullying enacted by the Philippine Government, the Faith Family Foundation, Intl., Inc, has taken the initiative to undertake an event to raise awareness among students about bullying and help them cope with this social malaise.

Last August 30, 2018 the Foundation, on it’s 3rd year of implementing this program, went to Paliparan II Integrated National High School to conduct a seminar which was attended by almost 400 Grade 7 and 8 students.

The campaign not only aimed at raising awareness about bullying but focused more on how God loves all the students and that He values each of them and protects their well-being, their dignity and has provided a good future for them. The students were given a letter from their Creator (passages taken from the Bible) letting them know how they are loved and thought of. In this way, they learned how to value each other, especially themselves. The School officials applauded the way the Anti Bullying Campaign was presented to the students noting that the approach was holistic and was more appealing to the students because of the spiritual perspective from which the issue is tackled. The heart-rendering testimony of Elizabeth Trinidad, a member of the Faith Family Church, exposed the ugly reality of bullying and how one can overcome it with help of God and by approaching the right people.

After the talk, small groups were formed to process what the students heard and learned. They were also presented the Gospel and were prayed for. A simple but hearty ‘merienda’ was enjoyed by all.