LIFE CHANGERS  

by: Jonathan Rickard, GK News Bureau

With the company vision of "We change lives", US-based high-quality cookware manufacturer Saladmaster has found partnership with Gawad Kalinga to be a natural alliance.

It was just such a vision – combined with a strong love for the poor – that drove Toronto-based Director of Filipino Business Development Pidoy Pacis to partner with Gawad Kalinga - first as a personal crusade of him and his wife - and then as the driving force in a growing partnership that included Saladmaster dealers, and later on the corporation itself.

With GK being but one good cause among many to present themselves in front of corporate executives, it was the impassioned and clear presentation of Pacis and visiting GK volunteers Dylan Wilk and Tony Meloto that moved Saladmaster executives to partner.

“As Pidoy explained it, and as the GK representatives in Canada and USA came to meetings and did a wonderful job of explaining the specialness of the program - people started getting it!” explains Saladmaster President Keith Peterson. “I think GK777 has a unique strength in that people can understand it - they get it, they can relate to it.”

He joined Pidoy Pacis in visiting the GK village in Visayas Avenue, Quezon City, to see first-hand the results of their partnership.

“You know, it's one thing to understand the logic and the reason behind this kind of project - and we got into it for a large degree because of the soundness of the thought behind it - but being here adds the passion,” Said Peterson.

As the visitors walked into the village, well-dressed children from pre-school to high-school age lined the street in welcome. The children pressed the back of the visitors’ hands to their foreheads, a traditional Filipino way of blessing those older than oneself.

An oasis of development in an area that has traditionally been wholly slum, the GK Visayas Avenue village has a main street of brightly-painted houses, the different pastel shades enlivening the community. The volunteer project director guided the visitors through the community, introducing them to residents who have homes built through Saladmaster contributions, as well as providing background to the villagers’ lives.

The children aged from preschool to high-school ages entertained the visitors with dance items, and several residents took the opportunity to share how much their lives have changed. The young SIBOL children in their tidy pink and blue uniforms impressed the guests, much more the potential of the young lives being changed.

“When you see the potential to change those children's lives - as they become adults - from the environment that they're coming out of, that creates passion,” Peterson said

“My impression is that GK is doing a wonderful job of bringing support structure, raising the quality of life.” He said, continuing, “Most importantly for me, it is providing a totally changed opportunity for the children growing up to move on to a different life.”

With the surrounding slum areas yet to be transformed, visitors to Visayas Avenue have a clear picture of both before and after.

“What surprised me is the orderliness and the depth of the thought that is behind the structure of the project (GK),” he said. “The detail to all the underlying causes that have to be addressed I think is unusual - I was very impressed with that.”

And while impressed by the transformation of the physical environment, Peterson professed greater admiration for the attitude of the residents, and for GK’s efforts to create change through bringing new attitudes and values – the values formation program.

“I am so very impressed with the part of the program where people have to attend seminars or classes on the responsibilities, the standards, the ethics, and the effort that goes into building that moral foundation as a bedrock for that community.” He said, “I think that was something that I got out of this trip today that I didn't fully appreciate.”

For Pidoy Pacis, the chance to bring the Saladmaster president to the GK village was a chance to share the passion that drove his original personal crusade for GK.

“We had the opportunity to have a business meeting here, and despite the hectic schedule we have we managed to squeeze in a visit to GK,” he described. “I thought that actual visitation to the site would not only reaffirm the faith and belief of corporate, once they see for themselves, but also allow them to speak about GK, not only regarding the systems etc, but also to say "I was there, I was able to witness and to touch it."

Meeting the children of Visayas Avenue also moved Pidoy greatly.
“Well, I'm deeply touched. You know, sometimes you get goosebumps, you get really emotional,” he describes. “Because it goes beyond just giving a roof to them, shelter. It goes beyond that. When you hear the testimony of the kids (on the change in their lives) - you know there's no amount of money that can buy that!”

Pidoy finds Saladmaster’s own company motto – “We change lives” –perfectly suited to partnering with Gawad Kalinga. “‘Life changers’ - that's what we in Saladmaster stand for,” he says, “and changing lives is what our wish is, so we are truly now a living example of this.”

“That's why I think it's easy for us to embrace this project because truly this is changing lives. I tell our dealers around the world and in the Philippines that it's not just giving, it's truly building a nation, bringing dignity back to the poor,” he says.

Now, Pacis’ personal crusade has borne fruit, fruit that includes not only renewal of the poor, but a greater level of fulfillment.

“At the end of the day when you sit down it's not the amount of money that you have in your bank account, or the jewelry, but the personal satisfaction that you have changed somebody's life,” he says.