Rescue Mission Completes Shelter Expansion

SAN DIEGO — As she looked across the room at the shelter where she and her baby once slept on a mattress on the floor, Tiffany Newby began to tear up.

“We used to sleep back there,” said Newby, a program manager and supervisor at the San Diego Rescue Mission.

Newby wasn’t fighting back tears at the memory, but at the improvements that have been made to the mission’s Nueva Vida Haven since she stayed in it about 10 years ago.

“The beds are amazing, and I love the kids’ corner,” she said about the recent improvements. “The kids have chalkboard walls and toys to play with. It’s just awesome.”

The San Diego Rescue Mission, 120 Elm St., is opening its doors to the public Saturday afternoon to reveal the results of an August fundraiser that renovated an emergency shelter for women and children.

Like many who have gone through the mission’s rehabilitation program, Newby said her life has turned around since she first showed up with a three-month-old son.

Recently released from prison at the time, Newby had been repeatedly riding the trolley with her baby just to have a place to sleep after being turned away from a shelter for violating curfew.

Arriving at the mission in 2006 on her 35th birthday, she said she was taken in without question.

“You mean I can just show up?” she remember asking someone who referred her to the mission.

The mission had been in several downtown locations before moving into the former Harbor View Hospital on the corner of Elm Street and 2nd Avenue in 2004.

Herb Johnson, president and CEO of the mission, said the first years in the hospital were lean, and about 30 percent of the building was leased to Volunteers of America and other tenants.

“When we moved in, we could barely afford to be here,” Johnson said, recalling the early days at the location.

Vice President of Development Michael Johnson said the mission could only provide mattresses for the emergency shelter.

“Everything was on the ground,” he said. “Mattress next to mattress, person next to person. If we had to squeeze in more people, we put down more mattresses.”

In recognition of its 60th anniversary last August, the Rescue Mission held a casino night as a nod to its original location in a downtown card shop. The event raised $135,000, enough to fund the renovations to Nueva Vida Haven, which included installing a new floor and raising the ceiling one foot to allow for new bunk beds.

“We’ve reduced the numbers in here a little bit and made it considerably more humane,” Herb Johnson said.

The mission is licensed for 60 people but can take in more in bad weather or if the San Diego Police’s Homeless Outreach Team brings in a woman with a child who have no place else to go.

The new shelter also has a separate room with a crib and a few beds for mothers with young children or children who have autism and need a quieter environment. On Thursday, Newby said the shelter was expecting a woman with a one-day-old baby that night.

A children’s corner is filled with play things and a toy kitchen for the young ones and computer stations for their mothers.

Besides Nueva Vida Haven, the mission also operates 12-month residential program for men and a separate one for women and children, transitional housing, a children’s center, recuperative care, work therapy and an outpatient therapy clinic.

Newby said her life began to change shortly after coming to the shelter and entering the rehabilitation program.

“Two months into the program was when I decided I wanted to go to college,” said Newby, who is working on a master’s in psychology with plans to earn a doctorate.

“When you’re homeless and in the legal system and living the lifestyle that goes with it, you opinions and thoughts are different than when you’re able to get into a place like NVH (Nueva Vida Haven),” she said about her transition.

“Tiffay’s story is amazing,” said Dr. Nikki Watkins, vice president of clinical programs. “But it takes a lot of personal work as well. I would say Tiffany took it and ran with it.”

The shelter is open for women and children from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily, and never closed during the renovation.

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Source: http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/

BIC Hosts Charity Day for Children

As part of its 40th anniversary campaign in 2015, Botswana Insurance Company Limited(BIC) hosted a charity day with the children of Cheshire Foundation Botswana (CFB) Mogoditshane Rehabilitation Centre.

On Wednesday February 24, 2016, BIC took its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) efforts a little further and donated bedding to the Foundation. BIC Managing Director, Johann Claasen handed over bedding in the form of sheets, pillows  and pillowcases, bath and face towels to the CFB Mogoditshane Rehabilitation Centre.  Getrude Lebotse, who is the Head of Finance and Administration received the donations on behalf of the Centre.

“We are delighted by your donations and we really value every donation we get, because it goes a long way in helping us achieve our goal”, she said. The bedding will help in the improvement of boarding facilities for children who are residing in the Centre. Handing over the donation, Claasen, BIC’s Managing Director, highlighted that BIC & its team are honoured to be involved with the Foundation & their vision of ​providing rehabilitation services to the people of Botswana. “We are humbled by what the CFB does.  We hope our donations

will aid in some way and we anticipate to continue working with the Centre in future to assist wherever possible.” Cheshire Foundation of Botswana is a charitable, non governmental organisation established in 1988 to provide comprehensive rehabilitation services to the people of Botswana. The organisation runs a wide range of programmes, which enables it to cover a wide range of disability related issues. This is inclusive of residential and daycare programmes for handicapped children aged between five and 15 years who receive Physiotherapy, Occupational therapy, Special Education and Speech Language therapy.

BIC strongly believes in the betterment of the society and we support projects that are looking into improving the lives of the less fortunate and the disabled. ​BIC appreciates and understands that development does not solely lie in the hands of government, but that it is also up to private sector players to contribute towards transforming, reconstructing and developing the nation.

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Source: http://www.mmegi.bw/

Snowmen Sales Boost Children’s Charity

A Moray charity has received a late Christmas present in the form of a bumper donation amassed by Buckie High School over the festive period.

Sixth year pupils at the school raised nearly £3,500 for the Logan’s Fund children’s cancer group by crafting and selling unique “snowmannie” figurines.

The creative youngsters handmade the decorations from little more than socks, buttons, rice and ribbons.

Pupils Erin McKenzie, Megan McGowan, Isla McRae, Emmy-Jo Munro, Niamh Paterson and Taylor Patient were mentored by teacher Sarah Matthews during the project.

They marketed the trinkets during community events throughout December, and at various Christmas fairs.

And they handed over the generous pledge to a special visitor to the school this week.

Elgin seven-year-old Ehryn Andrews was diagnosed with an osteosarcoma tumour in her pelvis on her sixth birthday in October 2014.

After enduring months of intense treatment and suffering heart failure last year, the brave youngster is now in remission from cancer.

Logan’s Fund has paid for her family to enjoy a holiday abroad this summer, and the charity said Ehryn was “thrilled” to act as its ambassador in collecting the donation.

Pupil Taylor Patient said: “We felt Logan’s Fund was the perfect organisation to donate our profits to as we were moved by the kindness of this charity and how the money we raised would be used to help suffering families.

“We were completely astounded and delighted by our finishing profit of £3446.00.”

Miss Paterson added: “Meeting Ehryn and knowing she would benefit from the money we raised in our enterprise project was really great.

“She is a lovely brave wee girl and is very deserving of the opportunities Logan’s Fund grant.”

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Source: https://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/

Kuya Bryan Celebrates with Children’s Joy Foundation

Christmas has always been a wonderful time for friends to come together, catch up, and just bask in the joy the season brings. A lot of friends come together and do house parties, or reunite at posh restaurants, and there are some, like kuya Bryan’s barkada, who choose to bond and spend time together along with the underprivileged kids in our country. This has been a yearly tradition for them to connect with kids and share their blessings, and this year we were privileged to be tapped by the group to organize it with them and the kids at Children’s Joy Foundation.

With a lot of activities in store, the event started with kuya Harvard calling all the ates and kuyas in front to make themselves known to the children. After a round of introductions, the volunteers were each then assigned a group of kids. Getting-to-know followed, and pretty soon the kids and volunteers were bonding. To get everyone fired up, kuya Kobe the magician did an amazing magic performance! Always jampacked with tricks and surprises, everyone gasped and smiled at what he had prepared for us that day. He even got one of the kids to join him and participate in a magic trick!

Next up was gametime, which was in the form of one our classics — Pera o Bayong. Similar to the TV show segment, kuya Harvard asked questions with multiple choice answers, and everyone would line up at the letter they felt represented the correct option. Our winning kid, the last one standing, was then given the option to choose between 1 thousand pesos or the bayong — which had a secret content. He ended up choosing the bayong, and in it were 5 story books!

To  give more meaning to the season, we then headed onto the next activity which was the arts decorating contest. Each group were given art materials as well as cartolina, and we tasked them to illustrate on it what Christmas meant for all of them. It was great fun as the ates and kuyas helped the kids come up with the drawings, which ended up colorfully and creatively made. Making the day more special was the fact that the kids had surprise performances for us, which touched the heart of everyone present in the room.

Mealtime then commenced, followed by the giving out of school supplies to the kids by our volunteers. We ended the day on a high note with all smiles for the camera, to capture such a heartwarming event filled with joy and love. We hope other barkadas get inspired too by kuya Bryan’s, and choose to bless others while spending time with their friends.

Humble Immigrant Builds Foundation for Charity and Change

The Wong Chu King Foundation is named after a humble immigrant from Amoy, China, who sought greener pastures in the Philippines. Mr. Wong Chu King built a business empire through hard work, fierce determination, and great sacrifice. Success did not come easy for him—he lived through the fears and uncertainties of World War II.

These traits were evident during the war when King started a small cigarette business. With the help of four assistants, King peddled his produce in the side streets of Divisoria. King survived the war and learned valuable lessons that would serve him well in the coming years. One lesson that stood out: as a sign of gratitude to God for sparing his life during the war, he pledged to do all he could to improve the lives of other war survivors. Generosity and compassion became his tenets in living a life dedicated to providing opportunities for others.

After the war, King established La Campana Fabrica de Tabacos. With the help of his wife, Nelia, and his children, King nurtured his small business into a thriving empire. But though focused on growing his business, King continued to live by the lessons he learned in his earlier years, during the turbulent times when survival was uncertain. His commitment to business leadership and success was also his way of fulfilling his pledge of helping as many people as possible by providing them with jobs and opportunities for personal growth.


Today, King’s legacy of humility, charity, and love of God and country is lived through the Wong Chu King Foundation, Inc. which his heirs set up on March 30, 1990. The Foundation symbolizes King’s commitment to charity and compassion. It believes in taking small but necessary steps to help the needy and provide opportunities to the deserving but less fortunate, thereby changing the world—and doing the impossible—one small step at a time.

Transformation Through Charity

The Wong Chu King Foundation, Inc. is a non-stock, non-profit donee institution duly accredited by the Philippine Council for NGO Certification (PCNC) in accordance with Bureau of Internal Revenue regulations and by the Department of Social Welfare and Development.

Driven by the tenet “transformation through charity,” the foundation is actively involved in educational and apostolic charities, primarily in areas in the country where tobacco farming is prevalent. It provides scholarships to deserving young men and women, especially to dependents and beneficiaries of Filipino tobacco farmers.

It also seeks to encourage and promote education and scientific research through its scholarship programs, focusing on high school and university scholarships.

As devout Catholics, the Wongchuking family spearheads assistance programs through the foundation for restoration and rehabilitation work for churches, especially those with great and historical and cultural value to communities, in various provinces of the country. The foundation also holds outreach programs for institutions like the Home for the Elderly (formerly Golden Acres) and the White Cross Orphanage.

The foundation also addresses concerns in health and nutrition, youth and family welfare, and disaster relief. While its scholarship programs are managed directly by the foundation, other types of assistance are rendered through other nongovernment organizations. Its main sources of income come from donations and contributions of members of the Wongchuking family and from supporters.

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Source: http://business.inquirer.net/

Yamaha Raises More than $31,000 for Feed the Children Charity

Thanks to the hard work and generosity of its employees, Yamaha Motor Corporation, U.S.A., yesterday presented world-renowned charity Feed the Children with a check for $31,373 as part of its Ninth Annual Feed the Children Charity Day at the company’s Cypress, CA headquarters.

Yamaha Motor Corporation, U.S.A., raises money for Feed the Children through employee donations, special dealer fundraising activities, and direct corporate donations from Yamaha’s customer satisfaction team. The company’s unique Customer Satisfaction Survey program makes a donation for each survey returned by a Yamaha Motorsports customer.

“Feed the Children is proud to partner with Yamaha Motor Corporation,” said Travis Arnold, Feed the Children Interim CEO/President and COO. “We know that, when we combine our efforts, we will have a greater impact on the lives of families who need us most–right here in America.”

“Yamaha is very proud to make this donation to Feed the Children on behalf of our employees, dealers, and customers,” commented Bob Starr, General Manager of Communications for Yamaha’s U.S. Motorsports Group. “Also, thank you to all of the great Yamaha racers, and to Star Touring And Riding, for their support and participation in today’s Feed The Children Charity Day.”

Star Touring And Riding (S.T.A.R.) volunteers were on hand at the event to help deliver donated food and supplies to the local Feed the Children office at the end of the day.

Over the past 20 years, Yamaha U.S. has helped raise more than $5 million in cash and supplies for Feed the Children, which is an international and nonprofit relief organization that delivers food, medicine, clothing, and other necessities to individuals, children, and families who lack those essentials.

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Source: http://www.motorcycle-usa.com/

Meralco Celebrates with Kuya Center

While almost everyone was on their family or barkada get-a-way for a long holidays due to APEC Summit, a group of Kuya’s and Ate’s of Meralco gathered to celebrate this day with the boys of Kuya Center. There were 20 jolly and active boys who participated and excited to play around. The Kuya Center is a shelter for those children who wandered aimlessly along the streets of Manila who has been given a chance to live like a normal kids.

When we arrived at the venue, children ran towards us with excitement on their face, greeted us with their smiles and held our hands to “mano” (a traditional way to give respect to elders). We started gathering the names of Kuya’s and Ate’s with the numbers corresponds to the number of children. Paired, grouped and became a partner throughout the event. Kuya Harvard was our host and started the game with a beat of music. The first game was Hula Together wherein Kuya and Ate together with the boys, they will run all over the cones in zigzag motion and will do the hula hoops altogether at the end. It was a calorie- burner they said with a big laugh. The second choice of game was In or Out Hula Hoops wherein they were divided into four groups. The mechanics of the game, Kuya Harvard will say a word specifically according to what he saw with the kids and decide whether if they will go inside the hoops or not. It’s been a fun game as they were confident to tell to everyone that “Hey! I’m pretty! I’m handsome and I’m cute”. Lastly, full effort from the group and loads of creativity was needed in order to win. It’s a Dance Group Showdown! In this game, a leader will be selected and create his own, unique moves and the members will follow. In this game, we’re going to gauge them according to creativity, teamwork and their talents of course. In every game, there’s a winner and got their stamps on their hands and will receive their gifts on the later part.

After a calorie-burning games, here comes the food that was prepared by the team and to mentioned the barbecue that brought by one of the Ate was lush! All Tummies were full and returned back to the last part of the event – the Gift Giving Part! The Kuya’s and Ate’s of Meralco were ready to give those gifts to the boys. It was a “Yay!” moment for the kids upon receiving it. And in returned, they made us a handmade paper flower.

Before calling it a day, we strike a pose including the wacky ones just to add in our memories that once in our life, we manage to give smiles to those who needed the most. It was fulfilling day!

Ate Nycel and Ate Mac’s Accessory Making with Children’s Joy Foundation

Together we’re creating a bigger dent as we establish more opportunities to marginalized children through events. As of this writing, U! Happy Events is about to hit 200 events just for 2015. We are only able to accomplish such task with more sponsors generously giving their time, talents and treasures to our cause. Case in point, are sisters Ate Nycel and Ate Mac Ramiro. They celebrated their birthday with their families, close friends and orphans of Children’s Joy Foundation.

Ate Nycel was the one who coordinated with me. I felt her eagerness through email as she had so much questions and replied to my answers quick. I haven’t met Nycel yet but I felt her positive energy online. Most of our sponsors we meet through the events already. The word of mouth about our services have traveled. She heard about us through another sponsor, Kuya Anton Darlucio. Coincidentally, he will be celebrating his 2nd event in Children’s Joy Foundation as well next week.

It was a jam packed afternoon filled with enriching activities. After getting to know each one, we had two games: Beach Ball Relay and Let it Go. Beach balls found itself in between pairs as they traverse a chair in front of them. In the next game, balloons were blown and let go in the air.

Accessory making gave time for everyone to take a breather and listen to Ate Blanca. The girls were thought how to design headbands while boys made their own bracelets using felt paper. As I watch from a distance, I saw every Ate and Kuya giving their all in making sure they create masterpieces together with children.

Final activity stop was Zumba. Ate Rissa, a certified instructor was joined by the sisters’ mom, Ate Maricel. They both head the front and got the crowd moving all parts of their body. I couldn’t help but join their very enticing steps. Ate Nycel did her best to copy while sister Ate Mac was a natural.

As meals were served including cupcakes, the kids also prepared their personal and touching thank you song for the adults. As they sing, the sisters sat and were greeted a Happy Birthday as well. They even got personal letters from the kids.

Thank you once again to our dear sisters. We look forward to seeing you and your circles to our events!