Tag: Charity

The Winner of the “GSF 2018 Super Nanay Competiton” is…..

The Winner of the “GSF 2018 Super Nanay Competiton” is…..

By DR June Sanico Leave a comment 26 Mar 2018

The first ever “Super Nanay Queen” of the GSF Village has been announced. After a month of planning and various competitions leading up to the big final day …. a WINNER was crowned:  

“Super Nanay Queen Annabelle Roca from Block 11.”  

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In second place (1st runner up) is, Norlyn Ojero from Block 7 and in third place (2nd runner up), Famela Dublin from Block 4. A huge congratulations to all the contestants!

The mothers were judged on different categories throughout the competition by our team of judges, Retchel Moore (a beauty queen and business woman), Aljie Candelario and Mary Joy Falcis-Taberna. 

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In each category, the Mothers had to showcase to the best of their ability, what they could do. They were judged on their talents, their sport, who the crowds thought most photogenic and in fact we ran this through Facebook and the response was incredible, they had to answer some questions from the judges, and then the finale was to design and wear a dress made from recyclable materials found in the village.

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The sporting category had mothers in all different outfits; softball, cowboy, firearms and basketball.

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The competition attracted visitors from all over Lemery who travelled to watch – the atmosphere was fantastic as all the mothers competed for the top spot! 

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Next up was the talent competition. In this category we had mothers making the crowd laugh in a comedy sketch, getting crowds up and dancing in a dance, singing and some powerful karate – breaking a breeze block in half!

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Whilst the mothers were back stage changing costumes, the crowd were were entertained by Trixie, who sang a song, and the children who did a great dance routine. It is great to see that there is so much talent coming through this village already.

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In the final category the mothers had to wear their creations on the stage. The dresses were fantastic, Block 9’s dress was made out of a sack, decorated with old cd’s and plastic bottle caps. There were table cloths and curtains all cleverly designed to look like ball gowns.  Block 11, our Super Nanay winner made her dress out of plastic bags and plastic cutlery. Just fantastic – who needs to spend a fortune and buy designer dresses when you have designs like these?!

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What a super day, well done to the GSF team in the village for all their hard work in organising such a wonderful event. This community is getting closer and closer every day. Everyone was involved in some way – helping to build the stage, helping with costumes, designs, sashes, the crown and lots more.

And finally, congratulations to all the beautiful Super Nanay Women of GSF Village who took part, you all looked fantastic and we are so proud of you. heart

 

The Greg Secker Foundation Homeowners Association visit Barangay Hall, Capiniahnan.

The Greg Secker Foundation Homeowners Association visit Barangay Hall, Capiniahnan.

By DR June Sanico Leave a comment 26 Feb 2018

 

We have 36 officers from the Greg Secker Foundation Homeowners Association, who were voted in by the beneficiaries of the village. This association will oversee various aspects of the village, and day to day life. 

Last week, the officers visited the Barangay Hall to be recognised as official residents of Barangay, Capiniahnan. During the visit, the officers introduced themselves and talked about their future plans in the village.  The GSF Association is made up of a President, a Vice President, a Treasurer, and an Auditor. Then there are the committee members who will oversee the maintenance of the houses, events held in the village, law and order, health (one of our officers/beneficiaries works as a Barangay Health worker – so naturally they are the main contact!) and each block of houses will have a block leader who will daily check the roads, canals and all surrounding areas for any problems. 

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Dorotia Toga is responsible for peace and order. 

The government official confirmed that all programmes and services will be available to our beneficiaries which will build networking for our families. 

This is fantastic for our families, helping them build up relationships in the surrounding areas which will in turn open the door for further work opportunities. 

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Mr Reyanaldo Sanico, the Barangay Captain and Mr Roberto Nonato Jr, the President of GSF Homeowners Association. 

 

 

 

February Newsletter – read all about the Opening Ceremony.

February Newsletter – read all about the Opening Ceremony.

By DR June Sanico Leave a comment 15 Feb 2018

Our February Newsletter is hot off the press. Read all about the Opening Ceremony here …..

 

 

“Children’s Day in the Village”

“Children’s Day in the Village”

By DR June Sanico Leave a comment 6 Feb 2018

Last Saturday, the children from the village all came together for a day of pure excitement. In their eyes it was Christmas all over again!  

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Our lovely Clients, Greg and Learn to Trade Staff had brought presents to the village when they were there for the opening ceremony in January. The day itself was packed full of excitement as it was, so it was felt that we should wait a month and then surprise the children with all these amazing gifts.  

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To make the day even more exciting, games were played with the presents as prizes, raffles were drawn and dance competitions held to showcase their talents.

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To make sure it was fair, every child received a toy, a book, a pen, educational material and some clothing.

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On behalf of us all here at GSF, and the Children, thank you to everyone that kindly donated.  The children were so happy and appreciative of everything that has been given to them. 

In this short clip, they are actually shouting, “Thank you!” 

Stevie Tajanlangit fulfils his promise to one of our beneficiaries, “Simo”!

Stevie Tajanlangit fulfils his promise to one of our beneficiaries, “Simo”!

By DR June Sanico Leave a comment 25 Jan 2018

Stevie Tajanlangit is a well known businessman in Iloilo and known for his micro business, Tatay Sa Kauswagen Inc, which creates employment opportunities for the unemployed or underemployed by providing financial assistance to increase productivity and income.  

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Stevie with his wife.

A few months ago Stevie visited the village and met with Zosimo Permejo (known in the village as “Simo”).  Zosimo was working on the building of the houses in the village. When he met Stevie they both chatted about life and Simo talked about what he would love to do once the village was built.  Stevie promised “Simo” that one day he would return to the village to help him. 

As promised, Stevie returned on the day of the Opening Ceremony and went to look for Simo in the village. On finding him he talked with Simo and told him he must fulfil his dream, he gave him some money to buy some hair clippers so that Simo could become a barber.  

Simo is now the sole barber for all the children and adults in the village making P60 per haircut which will really help his family. 

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Thank you to Stevie Tajanlangit for giving Simo the opportunity to do this.  It is just fantastic that one of our beneficiaries has these skills and they are being used to help him become sustainable in the future. 

Our last update from the GSF village of 2017!

Our last update from the GSF village of 2017!

By DR June Sanico Leave a comment 30 Dec 2017

There is so much excitement in the village and understandably. Not only have our beneficiaries been celebrating Christmas with lots of games, presentations and a party, but in just a few days time, on January 5th 2018, we will be having the biggest party as our lovely families move into their new homes. 

Everyone has been so busy getting everything ready for the big party. The men were busy making tables today whilst the women were busy around the village making sure it all looks beautiful!

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As our last update of the year, we wanted to firstly let you know who won the Christmas Tree competition. We posted pictures on Facebook and had such a great response, with so many of you voting for your favourite tree.   After adding up your votes and the village votes … Christmas Tree Number ONE was the winner. 

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The blue team standing proud with their first prize.

And a reminder of what Christmas Tree Number One looked like!

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During the Christmas party the beneficiaries had a dance competition with the green team winning this.

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And the yellow team won the best team of the day for winning most of the games!

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There were so many prizes donated from everyone who has been part of the village - and with all the games … came a prize!

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One of our builders won the major prize – a gas stove.  

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The men played a native Filipino game called ‘Palo Sebo’, which looks terrifying! A pot of money is put at the end of a bamboo stick that has been oiled so it is very greasy to climb. The person who successfully climbs the bamboo, wins the post of money!

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Central Philippine University have been a huge part of the village this last year, visiting regularly and giving lectures on lots of different subjects. The children have enjoyed Saturday school with the students and a real friendship has built up. The Packaging Engineering students arrived with presents for the mothers, Jollibee meals for the children and held a party in the village. There were cash prizes for best dancers, paint me picture games and lots of celebrating. We can not thank you enough for all of your support. 

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Group pics

So… our next update will be in the New Year … we can’t wait to show you the families moving into their homes and the celebrations that we will be holding. Phase 1 is complete – lets celebrate! 

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU ALL.

“All in a week’s work”

“All in a week’s work”

By DR June Sanico Leave a comment 23 Nov 2017

All in a week’s work ….. 

Greg and his team have shown us how it can be done, all in just ONE WEEK! It is the pure passion in Greg that just comes naturally to him, to help everyone in his path and to help make a difference. 

This is how his week unfolded …. On Monday the team left London Heathrow and flew to Dubai and then connected onto Manila. In Manila they were joined by our Ambassador, Ms Angelia Ong and they all flew on to Iloilo.  After an overnight in Iloilo they then flew to Lemery and then drove to the GSF village. 

On arriving at the village, there was a buzz in the air – Mr Secker is here. The beneficiaries followed Greg around the village, not letting him out of their sight!  After a fantastic community lunch, cooked by the mothers of the village, the team were then entertained with dancing, games and a christmas tree decoration competition. Who was going to win 1st prize?

Whilst in the village, Greg was also being filmed for a pilot for a documentary which is about encouraging other successful entrepreneurs to integrate the gift of  giving into their “business as normal”. If Greg can house 500 people .. there are certainly a lot more entrepreneurs out there who can do the same.  

Meanwhile in the village, Dean and Angelia did some story telling. Dean had written a book for the children of the village and with Angelia’s help translating it into Filipino they soon had the children giggling away.

After spending a day and a half in the GSF village it was time for the team to visit the school that the Foundation have pledged to help for the next 10 years.  Capanihan School is 2km from the GSF village.  Over the next few months we will build toilet facilities, an ICT computer training centre, a playground, a full refurbishment of the entire school and full catering for the children.

It was time for the team to bid farewell to the community and set off back to Manila to join Bill and Tani Austin from the Starkey Hearing Foundation, where they helped fit hearing aids to children that were deaf. To assist in the giving of a gift of hearing was a very emotional day with many of the team in floods of tears as the child gave the thumbs up as he or she heard for the first time in their life.  

The team had two more important visits to make before flying home – one was the House of Refuge Orphanage where Greg had sponsored the build of the medical centre, named after his late Grandmother, The Maud Clinic. They firstly stocked up with presents and then went and caught up with all the children.  And secondly, to personally thank all the wonderful Learn to Trade employees who have raised a fantastic amount of money towards the construction of the village. 

After five days it was time for the flight home …. Manila – Dubai – London.

 “All in a week’s work!” – Greg Secker – you are a true inspiration to us all. heart

 

A lesson in waste management and recycling for our beneficiaries.

A lesson in waste management and recycling for our beneficiaries.

By DR June Sanico Leave a comment 25 Oct 2017
Every Saturday, whilst the children are in class, the parents are learning different topics. This week they learnt about Waste Management and Waste Disposal/Recycling.  The speaker, Engr. Tom Laurea, is also one of our engineers on site.  He was able to hold a very in-depth and interactive discussion about the correct disposal of plastic bottles, plastic bags and other waste products and the reasons behind why it needs to be done. 
 
Engr Tom set a fun challenge for the families to encourage them to dispose of rubbish correctly. They were split into 5 groups and have to collect,  “Trash in a bottle”.  Each group member will have a used empty plastic bottle as a trash bin, and then all rubbish they pick up will be put inside the recyable plastic bottle. The most bottles (with rubbish inside) will receive a cash prize sponsored by Engr Tom himself.  The competition will start this week and the final collection for recycling will be this December, where the bottles will be collected and used as building materials.
 
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First prize: P1,000
Second prize: P700
Third prize: P500
Consolation prize: P200
 
The groups were eager to get started – what a great incentive to make sure the village is spotless and plastic is recycled!
 
It is very important to encourage our beneficiaries to recycle and dispose of waste correctly, especially today where plastic seems to be an ever growing problem in polluting our beautiful planet. Alarmingly, these statistics are rising year by year: 
 
• Over 1 trillion plastic bags are used every year worldwide. Consider China, a country of 1.3 billion, which consumes 3 billion plastic bags daily, according to China Trade News.
* A million plastic bottles are bought around the world every minute and the number will jump another 20% by 2021.
• About 1 million plastic bags are used every minute.
• A single plastic bag can take up to 1,000 years to degrade.
• More than 3.5 million tons of plastic bags, sacks and wraps are discarded yearly.
* Fewer than half of the bottles bought in 2016 were collected for recycling and just 7% of those collected were turned into new bottles. Instead most plastic bottles produced end up in landfill or in the ocean.
• Only 1 in 200 plastic bags in the UK are recycled.
• The U.S. goes through 100 billion single-use plastic bags. This costs retailers about $4 billion a year.
• Plastic bags are the second-most common type of ocean refuse, after cigarette butts.
• Plastic bags remain toxic even after they break down.
• Every square mile of ocean has about 46,000 pieces of plastic floating in it.
* Between 5m and 13m tonnes of plastic leaks into the world’s oceans each year to be ingested by sea birds, fish and other organisms, and by 2050 the ocean will contain more plastic by weight than fish.
 
 
 
 

 

The Emergency Trip Video

The Emergency Trip Video

By DR June Sanico Leave a comment 13 Sep 2017

In August you may recall us mentioning that Greg, Dean and our Ambassador, Ms Angelia Ong had to make an emergency trip to the village. One of our beneficiary families had lost their home in a flood and needed help. Greg made the decision to fly out and with the help of his team literally picked up the remains of the house (just the roof!) and carry it to a new safer plot.  The community all rallied together, it is just so reassuring that not only have we built a village but also created an environment where they all come together, and will now not only survive in, but thrive in.

It is thanks to you all with your donations that we are able to give these beneficiaries a life change. In January, we will be celebrating the completion of the village and welcome anyone that wants to join us to please do. For more information on this please get in touch with one of the team on info@gregseckerfoundation.com  We look forward to seeing you there and joining us in this life changing experience. 

 

CPU hold a ‘Packaging Lecture’ in the village

CPU hold a ‘Packaging Lecture’ in the village

By DR June Sanico Leave a comment 11 Sep 2017
Last Saturday, the Department of Packaging, from the College of Engineering, at the Central Philippine University visited the Greg Secker Foundation Village to conduct a series of Lectures and activities.  This course can only be taken at the CPU so we were incredibly lucky to have the students with us.
 
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In line with the course, the students taught the beneficiaries all about packaging products, and how important it is to put a label on correctly so that it is eye catching to the consumer. Our ‘Atsara Ladies’ really benefited from listening to this.  A couple of months ago, we mentioned that our mothers from the village were setting up their own ‘Atsara’ business, (Picked Papaya).
A few of the students designed some labels which are fantastic – now we just need to decide, with their help and yours of course, which one would look best.  
 
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The children from Grade four, five and six also had a fun day, learning Origami (Japanese way of folding paper). They also received gifts of school supplies which was so kind of the students. 
 
 
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Once the lectures were finished and the children had finished doing Origami, everyone came together and all took part in games and dancing which filled the afternoon with laughter, not only from the children but the students and parents too.  We are so lucky to have such a wonderful community.
 
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And finally, the students donated two dustbins to be used in the village. So generous, thank you for everything that you do to help the beneficiaries in our village. heart 
 
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