[et_pb_section background_image=”https://www.rafi.org.ph/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/eddie-copy.jpg” transparent_background=”off” allow_player_pause=”off” inner_shadow=”off” parallax=”off” parallax_method=”on” make_fullwidth=”off” use_custom_width=”off” width_unit=”off” custom_width_px=”1080px” custom_width_percent=”80%” make_equal=”off” use_custom_gutter=”off” fullwidth=”on” specialty=”off” disabled=”off”][et_pb_fullwidth_image src=”https://www.rafi.org.ph/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/IAMRAFI-NVC-Foundation.jpg” show_in_lightbox=”off” url_new_window=”off” use_overlay=”off” animation=”off” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_width=”1px” border_style=”solid” disabled=”off”][/et_pb_fullwidth_image][/et_pb_section][et_pb_section transparent_background=”off” allow_player_pause=”off” inner_shadow=”off” parallax=”off” parallax_method=”on” custom_padding=”0||0px|” make_fullwidth=”off” use_custom_width=”off” width_unit=”off” custom_width_px=”1080px” custom_width_percent=”80%” make_equal=”off” use_custom_gutter=”off” fullwidth=”on” specialty=”off” disabled=”off”][et_pb_fullwidth_header background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”left” header_fullscreen=”off” header_scroll_down=”off” scroll_down_icon=”;” scroll_down_icon_size=”45px” parallax=”off” parallax_method=”off” content_orientation=”center” image_orientation=”center” title_font_size=”37px” subhead_font_size=”22px” content_font_size=”30px” custom_button_one=”off” button_one_text_size=”20″ button_one_use_icon=”on” button_one_icon_placement=”right” button_one_on_hover=”on” button_one_letter_spacing_hover=”0″ custom_button_two=”off” button_two_text_size=”20″ button_two_use_icon=”on” button_two_icon_placement=”right” button_two_on_hover=”on” button_two_letter_spacing_hover=”0″ disabled=”off” inline_fonts=”Merriweather”]
IAMRAFI: Delivering Love,
Reviving Hope
The Story of Negrense Volunteers for Change (NVC) Foundation, Inc., Ramon Aboitiz Award for Outstanding Institution Category Finalist, RAFI Triennial Awards
By Emma Masapequeña, Marco Paulo Trajano Deligero | March 15, 2019
[/et_pb_fullwidth_header][/et_pb_section][et_pb_section transparent_background=”off” allow_player_pause=”off” inner_shadow=”off” parallax=”off” parallax_method=”on” custom_padding=”0px|0px|54px|0px” make_fullwidth=”off” use_custom_width=”off” width_unit=”off” custom_width_px=”1080px” custom_width_percent=”80%” make_equal=”off” use_custom_gutter=”off” fullwidth=”off” specialty=”off” admin_label=”Section” disabled=”off”][et_pb_row make_fullwidth=”off” use_custom_width=”off” width_unit=”off” custom_width_px=”1080px” custom_width_percent=”80%” use_custom_gutter=”off” gutter_width=”3″ custom_padding=”0px|0px|16px|0px” allow_player_pause=”off” parallax=”off” parallax_method=”on” make_equal=”off” parallax_1=”off” parallax_method_1=”on” parallax_2=”off” parallax_method_2=”on” parallax_3=”off” parallax_method_3=”on” parallax_4=”off” parallax_method_4=”on” admin_label=”Row” disabled=”off”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ disabled=”off” parallax=”off” parallax_method=”on”][et_pb_text background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”left” admin_label=”Text” use_border_color=”off” border_style=”solid” disabled=”off” inline_fonts=”Lato”][/et_pb_text][et_pb_text background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”justified” admin_label=”Text” use_border_color=”off” border_style=”solid” disabled=”off” inline_fonts=”Abel,Arimo”]
The Ramon Aboitiz Foundation Inc. (RAFI) pays tribute to all outstanding institutions in the Visayas and Mindanao that have initiated numerous projects that changed not only the communities they have served but the people they have worked with as well.
This is the story of the Negrense Volunteers for Change (NVC) Foundation, Inc., an organization which emerged out of its founders’ dedication towards building a better community — one that focuses on the nutrition, education, and livelihood of all its beneficiaries; and their journey to becoming one of the finalists of the last run of the RAFI Triennial Awards, under the Ramon Aboitiz Award for Outstanding Institution Category last August 31, 2018.
NVC Foundation’s First Nine Years: Nutrition, Education, and Livelihood
The Negrense Volunteers for Change (NVC) Foundation, Inc., like most success stories, started with humble beginnings.
According to the NVC Founder & President, Millie L. Kilayko, or Millie to her friends and to those who know her well, all they intended to be was to be a foundation that would be of service to their own community.
Founded in August of 2010, Millie shared that NVC started with the simple belief that, “if a person does little things in his neighborhood, he can help contribute to nation-building,”
Currently, NVC has three focus areas: Nutrition, Education, and Livelihood. The projects in each of these focus areas, more specifically, the Mingo Project have garnered an award for innovation by the Department of Science and Technology (DOST).
These projects were made possible by the partnerships NVC has forged with several Manila-based organizations, and with its loyal supporters throughout the country.
The Mingo Meals: Inspired by a Nine-Year-Old Kindergartener
Their engagement in nutrition programs started when Millie went on the field in one of their Educational campaigns and there saw a nine-year-old boy.
“I saw a nine-year-old boy in Kindergarten. He was taller than the other kids. So, I asked the teacher ‘why is this nine-year-old boy in kindergarten?’” Millie shared.
The teacher then told her that it was the boy’s first-time in school since the parents could not afford to send him to one. Millie added that the boy has seven other siblings and the parents can only afford to feed one child a day with a good meal.
Millie shared that that exact moment made her realize, ‘that no matter how many classrooms turn-over if a child goes to school hungry, education will not be of help,’
That is when Negrense Volunteers for Change (NVC) Foundation, Inc. began collaborating with the Department of Science and Technology, Food, Nutrition, and Research Institute (DOST-FNRI) on making a formula-based complementary food for infants and toddlers.
This partnership gave way to the manufacturing of the Mingo Meals, a nutritious instant complementary food for children. The Mingo meal pack is named after its ingredients consists of rice, mongo, and Moringa oleifera (malunggay).
This innovative campaign reached even the most remote areas of the country.
“That’s just how we grew… answering calls,” Millie shared.
Reaching More Remote Areas in the Philippines
Millie Kilayko shared that one day; she read an online article that talked about children in the mountainous areas of Bukidnon who only eat one piece of cassava a day, and this prompt her and the NVC Foundation to look for these kids.
It took their team almost six months to locate the mountainous area featured in the online article; Millie shared that getting to the area also posed numerous challenges for them, as they had to travel either by horse or by habal-habal just to reach their destination.
All the hardships were worth it in the end, as Millie put it,
“We fed more than a thousand kids in Bukidnon and that’s how we grew,”
Their drive to provide nutrition to more of the underserved children did not cease after one successful feeding operation. NVC has been very consistent in the way they implement their advocacy of reviving hope to those who have lost it.
As more in the feeding operations, after hearing about a child who died of malnutrition, they have organized one in Zamboanga del Sur where they quickly responded to the call and answered by delivering not only Mingo Meals, but also the love and care that came with it.
From the Bacolod Neighborhood to the Whole Philippines
Even though NVC is Bacolod-based, their campaigns have touched many areas in the Philippines.
And when asked as to how the expansion came about, Millie shared that it was merely by accident and not by design saying “wherever kids are hungry, we just… we cannot afford to let that story go on,”
NVC respond to those who reach out to them. Such was the case of the doctor from a barrio in Dinagat Island who wrote them a letter.
In the letter, the doctor detailed how high the malnutrition rate in the island was. In response, NVC scouted for donors to be able to conduct feeding operations in the area.
A few months after, the doctor sent them a letter where reporting that, after feeding the kids with Mingo for six months, [there was] a very big change in the children in terms of nutrition. The rate of malnutrition has decreased on a big scale.
Signs of malnutrition include rough skin, falling hair, and shrunken muscles, but with NVC’s Mingo Meals, the children have significantly transformed into beaming and healthy individuals.
LoveBag: School Supplies That Came From the Heart
The NVC Foundation is fortunate to be run by people who pay close attention to what is going on around them. While being stationed in Bukidnon, a field officer sent to the NVC head office a photo of a young student named Carl Gonzales.
“The child was writing with a third of a pencil… the father had to cut up the pencil into three because they can afford to buy only one pencil for the three children,” Millie shared.
While most couples give flowers and chocolates on Valentine’s Day, NVC Foundation, Inc. did something even better and launched the LoveBag Project in 2017.
The photo struck a chord in their hearts and inspired them to provide school supplies to more than 4,000 bags to children like Carl.
As of January 31, 2019, NVC Foundation, Inc. has provided 4,365 LoveBags to schoolchildren.
‘Linking Donors to Dreams and Dreams to Donors’
NVC credits the success of the projects that they have carried out throughout the years to the donors who were gracious enough to share what they have.
To NVC, “linking donors to dreams, and dreams to donors,” best describes their core principle.
They identify themselves as the avenue who helps people (donors) to give back to the community. In return, they get gratitude and a sense of purpose, or simply — the social return of investment.
“[So] we have to make sure that every donor, whether he donates only one backpack, or he donates just one pencil, he gets a report,” Millie sharing the importance of transparency to donors in a making change to the people.
The Peter Project: A Fisherman’s Redemption
The projects of NVC Foundation, Inc. prove that if you teach a man how to fish, you feed him forever. NVC’s goal is not to merely give others the things that they need, but to provide them with the means to help themselves as well — NVC provides sustainable solutions so that their beneficiaries could stand on their own feet.
In early 2013, NVC launched the Peter Project and started gathering fishermen who needed a boat.
The Peter Project is one among their many livelihood projects instigated to provide motorized fishing boats to fishermen who have no boats of their own, and to fishermen who have lost their boats to disasters.
Amidst the long line of sunburnt fishermen was this scrawny little boy who, as Millie remembered, looked a little lost but was determined nonetheless.
“I saw there was this little boy who was standing in line and I said, ‘What are you doing here?’”
The boy replied that he was standing in line for his father because if he does not, his father might lose his chance to have a boat.
Millie asked the boy to take her to their home where she saw the condition that the family is into.
“The boy had to prepare meals for the siblings (because his mother was not around)… he had just rice for the meal and nothing else, [and] just a few pieces of salt, they ate with their hands, they drank water from tin cans from somebody else’s trash,” Millie shared.
The boy’s father, which she later learned was named Fermi, became the first beneficiary of Peter Project.
As of January 31, 2019, NVC has touched the lives of 4,948 fisherfolk who have received motorized Peter Project fishing boats.
Reviving Hope After the Super Typhoon Yolanda
When super typhoon Yolanda, with an international name ‘Haiyan’, hit the Visayas last November 8, 2013, one of those who was truly affected by the disastrous calamity were the fishermen who depended on their boats for a living.
“When Typhoon Yolanda came, we first started with feeding [program] but we felt that we had to do something for the people who lost their livelihood. So we launched the Peter Project for the fishermen who lost their boats to the typhoon,”
These are fishermen from the Visayas, Biliran, Leyte, Negros Occidental, Northern Cebu, Panay, and Samar.
NVC quickly responded by using social media as a platform to gather donors all over the world.
“In less than a day, we were receiving donations from all over the world… then it came to a point that we were already receiving donations of about 800 boats,”
More Challenges and More Solutions
However, this worried Millie since making wooden boats in such large numbers would mean that many trees would have to be cut down.
Her worries were resolved when one volunteer from Manila donated fiberglass boats. Though it cost Php 5,000.00 more than the wooden boats, they were willing to pay the extra if it meant conserving trees in the process.
Fearing that the fiberglass boats were much more fragile than their wooden counterparts were, the fishermen were reluctant at first to accept the said boats.
“Kasi natakot sila, kasi akala nila baka madaling masira, mabasag (The fishermen were afraid that the fiberglass boats break easily),” Millie shared.
That is why they took the fishermen to the fiberglass boat factory in Bacolod where they showed the production process of the boats that will be distributed to them. From there they saw that the fiberglass boats are strong and were not as bad as they imagined.
When the Beneficiaries Begun to Be Givers Themselves
To Millie, the biggest joy was not the fact that they were able to deliver 4,948 boats but more of the attitude of giving that they have instilled into their stakeholders and beneficiaries.
In April 2015, shortly after the earthquake in Nepal, someone from the organization suggested to talk to the fisherman about what happened, for them to realize that they are not alone in their disasters, and so we did.
Millie also shared that one time when they were talking to the fishermen, one fisherman who just lost his wife and infant child to the typhoon stood up and he picked Php 20.00 from his pocket and put it in a bottle, and said, “this is my donation for people in Nepal,”
The donations from all the fishermen summed to a total of Php 100,000.00.
And when asked, Millie said that their indicator for organizational growth is not about the numbers.
“It’s that our beneficiaries have begun to be givers themselves,” Millie proudly shared.
When Millie first met Fermi, the first beneficiary of the Peter Project, she asked him if he had any dreams, to which Fermi answered, “I have no dreams,”
That left Millie with one conclusion, “…when a man is as poor as Fermi was, a man ceases to be a human being, he only lives to eat and sleep and eat and sleep, and not have any dreams,”
But when he received a boat, everything changes in his life.
“His first harvest proceeds went to the church, his second he gave to the school. So he became a giver himself…” Millie proudly shared.
The Biggest Challenge: Financial and Physical
Though the foundation has achieved so much, it was not without many hardships. The biggest challenge for them was getting enough funding to support their many pursuits.
Another challenge was the physical hindrances they have to go through to get to the areas where they are conducting their programs.
“To get to the place where those kids are, we had to ride a habal-habal… I was just thinking in my mind are the kids on the other end of the mountain, how they do it,”
Despite these challenges, Millie remains hopeful about the future.
“We don’t look at it really like a real challenge; it’s really the path to growth,”
The Next Step for the NVC Foundation, Inc.
The NVC Foundation, Inc. have accomplished numerous milestones in their almost ten years of service — from being a foundation that helps nearby communities, their advocacy has now spread almost in the entire country.
When asked what the next step is for the Negrense Volunteers for Change (NVC) Foundation, Inc., Millie shared, ‘to support of the government’s program for the first 1,000 days of a child,’
NVC is planning to create a project that aims to develop programs that will allow the organization to be able to help the mothers and their newborn children in the first 1,000 days after birth — the most important days for a newborn child.
They have identified exclusive breastfeeding as one of the ways to ensure proper growth and nutrition.
“Secondly, what we would like to do is be able to feed more kids all over [the country],”
Standpoint: Sparking Joy, More Than the Numbers
All the greatest people in the world have the ability to inspire novelty, deliver love, and revive hope; on a larger scale. Sometimes, however, it takes not one individual but a whole institution to help build a nation
They remain committed to their mission to reduce hunger in the country, provide sustainable livelihood to those in need, and to provide the tools for young learners to have a better education.
At the end of the day, happiness for Millie is, “seeing a child smile after a child is out of hunger,”
As of January 31, 2019, NVC has served a total of 8,064,650 Mingo Meals to children needing nutritional support.
The significance of Negrense Volunteers for Change (NVC) Foundation, Inc., lies undeniably in its ability to deliver love, and revive hope.
As one of the donors put it, “because you’ve shown us love, we would like to give love as well,”
All of the successes of the Negrense Volunteers for Change (NVC) Foundation, Inc., began from the vision of a woman named Millie Kilayko and her friends who share the same dream — an example of Negrenses whose values and dedication exceeds the barriers of poverty, malnourishment, and well-being of children, which as a result, eventually transforms beneficiaries into givers themselves; and now, they envision a better and healthier Philippines. #IAMRAFI
[/et_pb_text][et_pb_code disabled=”off”][/et_pb_code][et_pb_code disabled=”off”][/et_pb_code][et_pb_code disabled=”off”] [/et_pb_code][et_pb_gallery gallery_ids=”30392,30389,30388,30381,30383,30384,30385,30386,30380,30377,30378,30379,30376,30375,30369,30370,30371,30372,30373,30374,30367,30391,30390″ fullwidth=”on” posts_number=”43″ orientation=”landscape” show_title_and_caption=”off” show_pagination=”on” background_layout=”light” auto=”on” auto_speed=”7000″ use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_width=”1px” border_style=”solid” disabled=”off”][/et_pb_gallery][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][/et_pb_section]
