Florida Fil-Am students hold summit to help anti-poverty work in PH

Gawad Kalinga speaker Francis Miranda leads a group activity during his workshop at the Live Oak Event Center in Orlando, Florida. AMIR OMAR

Filipino American students at the University of Central Florida in Orlando devoted its first collegiate summit to helping lessen poverty in the Philippines.

Filipino Student Association held its first collegiate summit at the Live Oak Center in collaboration with Gawad Kalinga USA, a nonprofit that tries to ease poverty in the Philippines through community-building programs.

GK USA representatives led a morning leadership conference followed by workshops led by several organizations. The leadership conference focused on the need to become aware of people in need and finding ways to help them. The workshops explored Filipino health disparities, activism and other social issues.

Dr. Jose Raffinan, GK USA chairman, praised young people who are looking for ways  to help the poor. “GK USA work continues to inspire and energize me as I meet people like you who have a heart for the poor,” Raffinan told NSM Today.

FSA’s president, Allyson Nepomuceno said that in previous years the group held cultural dance fundraisers for GK USA. It was able to donate a much larger amount to the nonprofit last year thus creating closer ties with the nonprofit.

“It’s kind of heartbreaking to see that I could have been a child in the Philippines suffering, not knowing where my next meal will come from,” Nepomuceno told NSM Today. 

Nepomuceno announced that she will serve as chair of a nationwide organization called NextGen GK USA, young people who are passionate about alleviating poverty in the Philippines.