News

Stories written by Shelley Callahan

Filter by Subject:

Volunteer for the Visayans

We have worked with VFV in the Philippines since 2005

Our volunteer coordinator, WimWim, picked me up early the morning after I arrived in Tacloban to take me to the Volunteer for the Visayans main office, located a short distance from the downtown area in a neighborhood called Bliss. When we arrived, we parked along the cobblestone road, right next to a few small shops selling candy, snacks and household items. Across the street was a large entry way with Volunteer for the Visayans written […]

Hope After Yolanda

Ten years later, residents of Tacloban are still reminded of tragedy

When I first started at Children Incorporated in May of 2014, I remember hearing a lot about our relief efforts in the Philippines after Typhoon Haiyan, which had devastated areas of southeast Asia in November 2013. I recall clearly stories from our staff about the damage that had occurred in Tacloban, where our affiliated site, the Visayans Center (which is run by non-profit organization, Volunteer for the Visayans, or VFV) was located. After the storm […]

The Realities of Urban Poverty

A look at our Inner City Division

In our experience, we at Children Incorporated have seen that urban poverty entails many of the same challenges that rural poverty does, including transportation barriers and shortages of affordable housing. There are some difficulties which are specific to families living in urban environments, however — problems that we are currently addressing in the following cities: Washington, D.C.; Richmond, Virginia; Detroit, Michigan; and New Orleans, Louisiana. These challenges include concentrated poverty and crime, inadequate public transportation, […]

The Many Roles of Our Volunteer Coordinator in Tagaytay

In the Philippines, Nilo is going above and beyond to help the community

Three days after arriving in Manila, our volunteer coordinator at the Fortune’s Center, Joy, offered to drive me the hour and a half out of the city to Tagaytay, where our affiliated site, the Pinagpala Center, was located. I was able to hear about the center a little more the previous day when Joy, our former sponsored child Genesis, and I had lunch with our former coordinator at the Fortune Center, Polly Jonson, and her friend […]

Home Sweet Home in Manila

A Housing Project in Marikina is Helping Generations of Families

Before I left the Children Incorporated office for the Philippines in mid-January, our Director of International Programs, Luis Bourdet, made sure to mention to me that I should visit the housing project in Marikina that was built thanks to Children Incorporated donors while I was in Manila. In 2009, when our former volunteer coordinator, Polly Joson, had yet to retire from her position running our affiliated site, the Fortune’s Children Center, she proposed to Luis […]

Reaching Their Potential in Marikina

Our Sponsors Help Students at Fortune’s Children Center in Manila Excel

My flight to Manila from Washington, D.C. arrived in the late evening, so I didn’t have a chance to see much of the city before our volunteer coordinator from the Fortune’s Children Center (or Fortune Center), Joy, picked me up the following morning. It was a beautiful day in mid-January in the Philippines, and as Joy and I made the 45-minute journey from the Makati district to the Marikina neighborhood of Metro Manila, we excitedly […]