Children who are abandoned, maltreated, neglected, or exploited are akin to plants whose leaves are riddled with holes from pests that have infested them.
Everyone knows these plants are not the problem. The pests are.
So as much as Kalipay is dedicated to its mission of helping disadvantaged children, it also recognizes that it plays a role in a bigger mission—that of eliminating the “pests” that render children disadvantaged in the first place. These “pests” include economic and social poverty, distorted family values, social isolation, and low community involvement, among others.
In view of this mission, Kalipay has implemented community outreach programs to help address the factors that contribute to the increasing number of children being abused, abandoned, and neglected, with no hope for a better future.
One of these programs involves working at Gawad Kalinga (GK) projects. Before Kalipay Negrense
Foundation was established in 2007, its President and Founder, Ms. Anna Balcells, was already involved in a GK project at Barangay Kabatangan in Talisay City, Negros Occidental. Her family donated a number of houses to GK beneficiaries.
Since the establishment of Kalipay Negrense, Anna’s commitment to help the poorest of the poor did not diminish. Through her leadership and the financial help of generous donors, Kalipay continues to support and implement projects in Gawad Kalinga. This initiative has thus far, erected 29 houses, six elementary classrooms, a community clinic equipped with dental and medical facilities, and an activity center for livelihood projects.
Furthermore, when Supertyphoon Haiyan hit the Philippines in November of 2013, Kalipay also reached out to help. Locally known as Yolanda, the supertyphoon claimed thousands of lives and displaced even more—leaving families with no homes and no means of survival to sustain them. More than a year later, Filipinos
were still struggling to reestablish their homes and find a stable livelihood.
Kalipay provided the community 36 new fishing boats as needed for them to resume their means of livelihood. Through the Community Center Kalipay built, the foundation was able to organize various occupational trainings to provide more employment options. Last August 2016, with the help of Xarxia Solidaria and the Adventist Medical Center, a team of medical doctors and nurses conducted a medical mission for the children and elderly members of the Kalipay Village.
Through community outreach projects such as these, Kalipay Negrense helps alleviate the societal plagues that would undermine the growth of a healthy community.