Nonprofit organization International Care Ministries concludes its Global Banquet 2021 with an estimated ₱99 million worth of total donations.
COVID-19 has shown us the extent to which we rely on one another. It has left millions of people ill, unemployed, struggling to make ends meet. As fragile humans, we draw strength from each other, from being a community. Despite physical distancing as well as travel and social gathering restrictions, people have found various means to stay connected.
Research by Oxford’s The Gerontologist reveals that all the help we have been giving and receiving serves to brighten our days and further our relationships with others. Making other people happy gives us joy too. From volunteering to giving tangible aid to local establishments, there are so many things we can do to support those in need during this difficult time.
Succor comes in various forms. Spending money by buying local products or by eating at a restaurant, for instance, is already very helpful to the economy. An easy but significant kind of aid is giving donations to a trusted foundation.
There are a lot of local and international nonprofit organizations (NGOs) worth following and supporting, the likes Ramon Magsaysay 2021 awarded groups such as the loan-disbursement firm, Akhuwat, and humanitarian agency, Community and Family Services International (CFSI).
The industry of goodwill and compassion celebrated a milestone this month, as one of the most meaningful charitable institutions successfully convened an important fundraising program.
The International Care Ministries (ICM) and its team of volunteers and staff, as well as guests and donors, took to the Aberdeen Marina Club and The Arca Hotel in Hong Kong to conduct their annual Global Banquet. This year’s theme was “Inspiring Hope,” and similar to its past iterations, ICM held an auction for the benefit of the ultra-poor.
The World Bank describes poverty as those living on less than $3 a day and, below that, those living on $2 or less daily is part of extreme poverty.
Roughly a quarter of 109 million Filipinos live below the poverty line. The ultra-poor families face the toughest barriers to progress out of poverty. They are the persons earning only up to $.50 (₱25) a day, who lack job skills and productive assets, and live in far-flung or difficult-to-reach areas.
If life goes on as it does right now, the cycle of poverty will continue. It is ICM’s mission to break this vicious cycle of poverty. Its goal is to bring real hope that leads to real change.
Launched in 1992, ICM has developed into a major foundation, supporting ministries that currently serve hundreds of thousands of impoverished all over the globe, the Philippines included. It has been able to reach vulnerable families through its extended network of pastors, its backbone, across the country from Negros to Bohol, from Panay to Palawan, from Cebu to Mindanao.
One of the primary advocacies of ICM is called “Transform,” a four-month weekly capacity-building program. Since 2009, 9,788 communities were touched, 255,618 households enrolled, and 1,369,822 family members have been empowered.
ICM guides parents in every area of life. It provides small investment opportunities for the destitute to earn more money on their own terms. It also strives to deliver better nutrition, safer water, treat diseases, as well as prepare for safe pregnancies for the underprivileged. ICM coaches have also engaged with nearly 2,000 different Philippine public schools, trying to help reach at-risk families. The Department of Education (DOT) recognizes ICM as one of its top partners.
On Oct. 28, people from all over the world, in Australia, the US, the UK, and the Philippines, participated in the Global Banquet 2021. This mix of physical and virtual gathering is the primary fundraising endeavor that ICM organizes to collect funds for its yearly operational expenses.
“The pandemic has intensified disparities in our world. Poverty is going up. Before the virus hit, the ultra-poor families average an income of just $.28 (₱14), 29 percent have no electricity, 43 percent live with an illness,” says David Sutherland, chairman and CEO of ICM. He furthers that the health crisis has made the alarming situation worse, with 72 percent of people saying that they are earning way less now than before.
The Philippines has had various lockdowns since March last year, and lockdown rules would change at the drop of a hat, depending on provinces and municipalities. In September, Bloomberg ranked the Philippines last in COVID resilience among 53 countries.
David goes on to share ICM’s most astonishing achievement amid the pandemic. ICM now has more than 1,000 local women who have been trained to bring health care to 1,000 local communities. These women are monitoring the health needs of 130,000 residents of their immediate areas and, in just a few months, conducted half a million household medical screenings.
Part of the evening activities was an online bidding over several artworks, which included pieces by Filipino artists, and other coveted items. In 2020, 1,600 guests participated worldwide, with the auction raising $170,000 or ₱8.5 million. This year, the estimated total of the sum raised at the auction is $1,963,000
“I'm really proud of our staff, but I’m also proud of all of you, our stakeholders. When we launched our first ICM banquet 16 years ago, we were a small charity facing overwhelming problems of poverty in the Philippines,” says David. “How could we even make a dent in such a huge problem? Since then, many of you have put your faith in us, you provided the startup capital we needed to allow us to grow, and we’ve tried hard to be faithful staying lean in ever-increasing in our impact.”