ANCOP Walk launched, targets to raise $1.5M from 16 locations

ANCOP Walk launched, targets to raise $1.5M from 16 locations

CTV’s Melissa Grelo emcees ANCOP Walk launch. Right: Ricky Cuenca, ANCOP president. (PHOTOS: ARIEL RAMOS)

By Mila Astorga-Garcia

ANCOP Walk, an event of ANCOP International Canada to raise funds for shelter, child education and its humanitarian relief, is yet to be held August 21, 2016. However, preparations have already been going on for what the organization believes is its biggest fundraiser, since the kick-off launch last April 22, which was celebrated with a dinner at Rembrandt Banquet Hall in Scarborough.

The launch was attended around 250 guests – many of them ANCOP members, but also including donors, leaders of community organizations, and guests from business, the academe, civic institutions and media. It featured a program, hosted by Melissa Grelo, co-host of CTV’s “The Social,” and included entertainment numbers. The event’s highlight was a presentation of ANCOP’s social programs by Ricky Cuenca, president.

Using pictures and videos taken during visits to the ANCOP beneficiary communities, Cuenca updated the audience of the progress of major ANCOP development and humanitarian projects. This included the turnover of 400 “typhoon-proofed” homes to survivors of Typhoon Yolanda in New Kawayan, Tacloban City, on land donated by the Archdiocese of Palo and with the co-sponsorship of SM Cares; the shelter project in Tala, Caloocan in Manila whose beneficiaries are former patients of a leprosarium, made possible with the co-sponsorship of the Philippine Canadian Charity Foundation.

Cuenca also reported on the progress of ANCOP’s scholarship program, where he said thousands of their scholars have already graduated, some on top of their class.

Cuenca also presented onstage beneficiaries of ANCOP’s immersion program – students and faculty from Toronto District School Board who had travelled to the an ANCOP development site, to live with a marginalized community and help in its shelter-building and development projects. Asked to speak briefly about their experience, some revealed how the experience transformed their lives for the better. One teen confessed he realized there are more important things to be concerned about than wifi for his phone, as he described the valuable relationships he formed with the people he played and worked with.

The ANCOP president also presented their partners present, and asked them to share their visits, among them Alice Chiu of Markham, Felix Fullante of Bukas Loob sa Diyos and Michael Consul of the Toronto District School Board Immersion Program.

He also presented to the audience some faithful donors to ANCOP, among them Maria Rego of Cambridge, Ontario, who handed Cuenca a cheque he described as a “substantial amount”, to add to a previous donation for a livelihood program in a 100-home community in Leyte. Rego called on the guests to do what they can to help the poor through their donations.

As donations and projects were announced, guests applauded, and some of them could be seen in various tables writing their cheques. Cuenca said ANCOP also gets help from businesses and civic organizations. The group’s biggest source of funds are the individual donors coming from its supporters. The ANCOP Walk on August 21, which will the 13th since it started, is a significant source of these individual donations.

This year, the target is to raise $1.5 million, Cuenca said in an interview with The Philippine Reporter. Although they reached only half of their $1 million target in 2015, they are hopeful that with this year’s walk incorporating the use of web-based fundraising such as crowd-sourcing, social media, and other innovative ways to reach potential supporters, they will reach their goal. The organization has even produced a 16-page Fund Raising Guide explaining how to join and support the fund-raising efforts. Cuenca is proud that there will be 16 different walk locations across Canada. He asked anyone wanting information about the walk to go to www.ancopcanada.org.

ANCOP (acronym for Answering the Cry of the Poor) started in the Philippines in 2002, as the social arm of Couples for Christ, a faith-based Christian organization. It was established in the Philippines by a Jesuit priest from the U.S. as a way to engage couples, especially the men, in “enriching marriages in a faith-based way. It started with only 16 couples, it grew to include family members forming such affiliations as Kids for Christ, Youth for Christ and Singles for Christ. The concept was brought outside the Philippines by its members.

Gawad Kalinga (GK) and ANCOP were both affiliated with Couples for Christ but in 2009, GK broke away from Couples for Christ and ANCOP for reasons of “principle,” said Cuenca. Differences ranged from positions on reproductive rights, as well as extent of engagement and participation of other religions, Cuenca added.

ANCOP is considered the more conservative and traditional group because of its pro-life position. Cuenca explained that “we do not hide the fact that we are Christian and faith-based. “However, we are open to all religions, we accept donations from anyone of any religion, and our services are for the poor regardless of gender, ethnic background and religious belief.”