The Good Samaritan Outreach Center in Bacolod, the Philippines, has celebrated its 10th birthday in characteristic fashion – with hospitality, prayer and community.
The Outreach Center is a ministry working with poor families, many of whom live in squatter-dwellings, by providing skills development, values and spiritual formation, economic and social enhancement, educational assistance and nutrition.
The Center also runs an environmental awareness program, empowering the local people to take action in their own community.
Outreach Center Director, Good Samaritan Sister Anne Dixon, who has been with the ministry from its beginning, said the 10th anniversary celebrations took place over several days, starting with a dinner for the Center’s partners and local benefactors on Thursday 11 July, the feast of St Benedict.
“At the conclusion of the evening our benefactors were presented with a special token of our gratitude – a Center-grown rose,” she said.
Image: Sisters of the Good Samaritan.
On Saturday 13 July, the Center hosted a Medical Mission, in partnership with the Serviamus Clinic headed by Dr June Pearl Samson, with five doctors and five nurses giving up their time to attend to more than 200 of the Center’s friends from the local neighbourhoods.
“Ailing people from our local squatter areas, and also from Boulevard and Mambulok, were thrilled to be checked out and to receive free medication and hot snacks, donated by a local restaurant,” Anne said. “It was a fitting way to celebrate our 10 years of ministering with these special families.”
On the day of the anniversary, Sunday 14 July, the celebrations began with Mass at the local Holy Family Church.
“It was a moving experience seeing all our team and scholars wearing our anniversary T-shirt,” Anne said. “After Mass the parishioners joined us in the hall for snacks. All in all, we celebrated well and remain grateful to all our benefactors who continue to donate generously.”
The establishment of the Center in 2014 was the result of a dream held by the then newly professed Good Samaritan Sister Grace Marcelo.
Grace had previously volunteered with the local Women, Youth, Children Outreach Center and said her dream to begin the Good Samaritan Outreach Center grew from that experience.
Image: Sisters of the Good Samaritan.
When Anne arrived to begin her ministry in the Philippines, the land for the Outreach Center had already been purchased.
“I was fully enthusiastic and supportive of Grace’s dream,” she said. “I had become involved in prison ministry as soon as I arrived there in March 2013 and I saw immediately that there were many, many social issues around us.
“Grace being a social worker was crucial to us being able to get the Outreach Center up and functioning.”
In the beginning, the Center offered hospitality to local people and families of the Good Samaritan Kinder School students by providing coffee and chats. From there, its first programs included basic baking skills and candle-making. Both programs continue today.
Anne said that along the way the Center introduced new programs and activities, including a Rice Cooperative and a Livelihood Assistance Kit, both of which met a great need.
“The Center also inherited a Nutrition Program, which had begun in the Boulevard squatter area a few years before,” she said.
“It began with feeding about 50 children. Today, we have 460 children receiving meals three times a week, cooked by our team. We are also able to support close to 300 families in the Boulevard area – whether it be medical needs, emotional support or counselling.”
For seven years, the Center also provided the food for children at the local orphanage, with a team of women rostered on to do the cooking each day.
An enormous challenge for the people of Bacolod arrived in 2020 with the COVID-19 pandemic.
Already being a part of the local community, the Center was well placed to respond.
“During COVID we started a Street Feeding Project, providing a hot meal from the van once a week. We have been able to continue this project post-COVID because the great need is still there,” Anne said.
Image: Sisters of the Good Samaritan.
Another cornerstone of the Outreach Center has been a Scholarship Program to assist young people from the squatter settlements to gain an education. Starting with just five primary-aged scholars, funded by a local family, the Good Samaritan Scholarship Program now has 137 scholars, ranging from primary school to college.
Both Anne and Grace said at the heart of the Center’s ministry were the benefactors who support it through the Good Samaritan Foundation.
“Without benefactors we cannot run any of our programs,” Grace said. “It is very important for us.”
Visits by immersion groups from Australian schools are a regular feature of life at the Outreach Center.
“The immersion groups are a wonderful part of our lives,” Anne said. “They are vital for the schools, staff and other interested groups to experience the programs first-hand. The poverty is pretty stark so to experience it first-hand is important. They can return to Australia and inspire their communities to be generous in their financial support.
Erica Facundo said the Center had been a lifeline for her and her family, especially through the Scholarship Program, which supported her education and allowed her to become a qualified teacher and help her parents and siblings.
Image: Sisters of the Good Samaritan.
“I come from a humble and poor family. I have witnessed how hard life is,” she said. “I was lucky to be a scholar of the Scholarship Program. Through the support of the Foundation and benefactors, I was provided with my school needs such as uniforms, shoe allowances and school supplies.”
Erica said that when COVID hit and her parents’ work became less stable, the Center continued to help her family. Her grandmother applied for the Livelihood Assistance Kit, and they used the money as capital to start selling home-cooked Filipino dishes.
Erica has now joined the Center’s feeding distribution program, helping others in need.
“Words cannot express how grateful I am, but I am so thankful and delighted that I can give back to the Outreach Center through lending a hand by doing the best I can,” she said.
The Scholarship Coordinator at the Outreach Center, Joan Lobaton, said she enjoyed witnessing the direct impact of her work on students’ lives.
“Being the direct contact in helping students achieve their academic and career goals, by providing financial support, is incredibly rewarding,” she said.
“As we celebrate 10 years, I am most thankful for the opportunity to be a part of the Outreach Center Team.
“To see the difference in the lives of those we reach out to, not just in the scholarship program, but in all the programs and projects that we have is truly fulfilling.”
Image: Sisters of the Good Samaritan.
Anne said she loved being a part of the local community and while the Outreach Center ministry had brought her much joy, the entrenched challenges of extreme poverty in Bacolod remain.
“I feel so blessed to have Grace and our team here at the Outreach Center. I love the hands-on nature of the programs and projects, and I enjoy responding to the immediate needs of the people,” she said.
“But a challenge for me is the daily in-your-face poverty. People work long hours every day just to make enough to feed their families. Recently, I read that more than 60 per cent of the people living in Bacolod are living in squatter areas. This is a challenge. How do we advocate and fight for the human rights of people?”
Looking back to when the idea of an Outreach Center was just a dream and seeing how far it has come, and the impact it makes on the lives of local people, Grace said she was filled with thanksgiving.
“So much joy happened in the past 10 years,” she said. “It has been a blessing working with Anne and the team who have all taken hold of the dream. From setting up the Center to where it is now makes my heart smile in fulfilment.”
Grace said that while there were many challenges along the way, much had been accomplished.
“It means we are able to reach out to many people,” she said. “My joy lies in just seeing the children and families happy.”
The ministries of the Sisters are supported by the Good Samaritan Foundation. Donations over $2 are tax deductible in Australia and can be made via the website.
This article was published in the August 2024 edition of The Good Oil.
Members of the Good Samaritan Outreach Center ministry team. Image: Sisters of the Good Samaritan.
