The Beginning
Getting started was quite simple. We were in our last year of university all excited and ready for the world. Then it hit us…this would be the last few months of working together. We were not ready to say goodbye, nor did we want to stay in touch through the social media world. Actually, we only had email back then <smile>.
So Mark, the Founder and brain of Enspire, had an idea. “What if we could keep working together but do something for our community?” It seemed like a practical question but little did we know how much this idea would impact our lives.
We started off small, just a few
soup kitchens and informational sessions here and there to bring awareness to our family and friends…and then it started to grow. Our goal was to provide opportunities for everyone to give back to their community even in the smallest ways.
Getting Enspired
Things really started taking off when we were introduced to
Pag-aalay Ng Puso (PPF), a family run non-profit organization based in the Philippines and focused on raising the social economic welfare of a shanty town called Bagong Silang in Navotas City, Manila. For over twenty five years, this family of three sisters and two brothers had a vision to help these families and they dedicated their lives doing it.
We were ENSPIRED!
We then committed to sponsoring the education of the students in this community and successfully raised funds to educate 18 students through our choir festivals! Education is not free in the Philippines and the likelihood of any young children going to school from this impoverished area was slim to none. We had to do something.
Building Communities
After a few years fulfilling our mission “to empower, educate and encourage individuals to help themselves and others”, we soon realized that only 50% of the students actually pursued future job opportunities with this education. The other 50% got back into the cycle of poverty due to their physical environment.
We learned quickly that for education to be effective, a holistic approach that considers the living environment is needed. The only option was to move these families and build a new community. As a result, our Shared Experience Program was born!
And the rest is history. Now on to our
future…
