Elizabeth Tricia Trinidad is currently employed in Toomics Studio Inc. as a marketing staff. She graduated from the University of Santo Tomas with a Bachelor's degree in Literature. Her passion lies in doing research and writing. She's currently part of the Creative Arts Ministry as a vocalist and is also a cell group leader.
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.
A scholar of the foundation, Kian Fresnido, recently passed the PMA Entrance Examination conducted last August 25, 2019 in 41 testing centers nationwide. According to PMA, 1629 out of more than 30,000 passed the PMA Entrance Examination. The next phase of their selection process is the Complete Physical Examination.
Kian Fresnido is currently enrolled as a Senior High School student in the Philippine Christian University in Dasmarinas. His dream is to become a pilot. The goal of the Faith Family Foundation from the very beginning is to support the dream of people like him. Kian shares that entering the Philippine Military Academy has always been the dream. The Faith Family Foundation congratulates Kian Fresnido for being a model of faith and diligence to the younger generation.
Days before the actual event , the DFA needed encoders so Eunice Tabitha Trinidad, a member if the FFC and an employee of the Department , volunteered to conduct a seminar for people who were interested to become encoders. She trained the encoders how to process applications, what requirements or documents were needed, how to help applicants produce these documents, etc.
The venue provided by the Barangay was set up in Anchors 8 , Seaman’s village m Sampaloc 3, Dasmarinas, Cavite, which was fully airconditioned. The application process began at 9am on a first -come, first served basis. A systematic way of processing, data capturing, counseling, etc was set up to save time for the aplicants. At the the end of the long day , a total of 374 people had their applications approved and processed.
The team of the Passport on Wheels from the DFA, as well as volunteer youth from the Faith Family Church who helped manage the queue were also happy because everything went smoothly. The POW is part of the FFC Foundation’s service to the community that it serves. It is also part of the Department of Foreign Affairs ‘ program to reach out to the people and decongest the main office of hundreds of thousands of passport applicants.
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.
Women praying for a woman’s petitions
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.
Children reading booklets about God’s love
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.
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.
Students small groups.
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.
Special thanks goes to Ps. John Hayes for the financial support to cover expenses for the snacks served during the event. The Faith Family Foundation brings back the glory to God because of the great success of this program.
Every family has their own tradition. For Faith Family Church doing acts of kindness without strings attached is a tradition and they have shared this love for serving the community through three dentists. On April 22, 2018 another dental mission took place in Silang, Cavite in the community of Magnagon. Dr. Eloi, Dr. Grace and Dr. Glenda didn’t mind the trip to Cavite to serve the community. The dentists from Jeremiah 3017 dental clinic have always been finding ways to give back to the community by conducting dental missions. This is something that they have been doing for a long time now. Faith Family Church always endeavours to be able to organize events like the Dental Mission. The Dental Mission usually takes place in Faith Family Church but this year the dentists were brought to the community. The Young Adult Ministry took on the challenge of organizing the dental mission.
Photography By: Gabby Manabat
Most spend their summers swimming away in beaches but everyone in the hall chose to hustle for the community. As the day got hotter, more people began arriving. All people of all sorts of ages and sizes came to avail the free tooth extraction. There were several funny moments with different patients like how there was a mother who didn’t want her son to go through with the tooth extraction because her son will play basketball the next day. There was also a child who cried not because he was in pain but more of because how he can’t eat ice cream because his mother is taking too long with the dentist. The community was warm and welcoming. It made serving them a joy. The heat only created a warm atmosphere for everyone all around. 64 patients were served in total. Some of them only came to have a check up and some didn’t need to have their tooth extracted immediately. It was another successful dental mission. By 4pm everyone started packing up so that they can huddle in for pictures. As another memory of serving the community is tucked in safely everyone said their prayers before going home. All in a day’s work.
At the beginning of each school year, the Faith Family Foundation endeavors to support the studies of needy schoolchildren by providing school supplies to students of public schools who would otherwise not have this “luxury,’ as their scant funds would be spent on tuition and other fees. Priority, however, is given to students being supported by the Foundation . In June , 2016 the Faith Family Foundation decided to distribute school supplies to the students who are members of Faith Family Church.
At the beginning of each school year, the Faith Family Foundation endeavors to support the studies of needy schoolchildren by providing school supplies to students of public schools who would otherwise not have this “luxury,’ as their scant funds would be spent on tuition and other fees. Priority, however, is given to students being supported by the Foundation . In June , 2016 the Faith Family Foundation decided to distribute school supplies to the students who are members of Faith Family Church.
Scholars receiving their school supplies
They also received school uniforms, socks , bags and other essentials for their studies. The joy in the students and parents hearts was palpable, as they eagerly and gratefully queed up and received the very supplies that they had been praying for.Some students even compared the color of the notebooks that they got and talked about how they were excited to use their new materials for the coming school year. Some parents were more excited than the students themselves.
The Foundation is currently supporting 120 students under this project. The Faith Family Foundation hopes that they could extend the same kind of sui[pport, if not more, in the coming years, as they see this a a very practical way of helping and supporting students of the community. The Foundation extended its thanks to the donors of this activity, particularly the officers and Staff of the Philippine Mission to ASEAN , based in Jakarta Indonesia.
Every school year students from Faith Family Church are given an opportunity to pursue their studies. Students are given a maximum of Php 10,000 each which they are free to use – either in augmenting their tuition or other school fees, buying books or simply to help them with their day-to-day needs.. Most of them do not have the resources to pay for their tuition fee or afford having an allowance.
Scholars receiving ther school supplies
The Foundation is currently supporting 5 elementary students, 8 high school students, 4 grade 11 students and 11 college students. Elementary students are given 3,000 Philippine pesos, High school students and Grade 11 are given 5,000 pesos, and finally College students are given 10,000 pesos. The amount of money distributed to the scholars increases as they advance their academic studies because their needs also increase. Many became hopeful because of the support given by the Foundation.
Some scholars are taking up Business Administration, Computer Science, Information Technology and Hotel and Restaurant Management. Receiving support from the Foundation boosted their motivation to finish their studies. Scholars have several requirements that they must fulfill if they want to be able to apply or keep their scholarship. The scholars are required to attend their cell group meetings and church regularly; they are scheduled to help in cleaning the Church as a way of giving back, they should maintain a certain average grade and they cannot have any failing grade. Scholars are also discouraged from having a girlfriend and boyfriend to ensure that would not be distracted in their studies. The Foundation hopes that the students would not only be provided financial help, but they would also be molded with values.
