Some say it smacks of commercialism. A way to rev up sales for gifts, for special dinners out at high-end restaurants, for bouquets of lovely flowers in spring. Others are happy that one special day is set aside every year to honor the one person who means the most to almost all of us. A way to express our gratitude for all the years, weeks, days, and hours that mothers lavish on their children.

Nothing in the world – not a diamond necklace, not a hand-written letter lovingly composed, not a vacation from household chores – can adequately express our appreciation for the lives of dedication of mothers everywhere. They kissed away the pain of childhood scratches; cheered us on when we tried our hand at sports or drama, or various contests; empathized with our broken hearts; gave us advice and recipes when we in turn became mothers. Whether our mother is quiet, boisterous, funny, overbearing, aloof or in our face, we love her because we know that whatever she does – even if it irritates us – is done from the depth of her love for us.

How then can we really show her how much we love her?

Today, there is a growing trend of giving gifts that make a difference in the lives of others. Many birthday celebrations, wedding anniversaries, and corporate events are now used as occasions to raise funds for a cause that resonates with the celebrants.

The program GILAS (for Gearing up Internet Literacy and Access for Students) seems to have attracted its fair share of donations in this genre. GILAS is a very strategic nationwide program being implemented by a multisectoral social consortium in the Philippines. It aims to put a computer laboratory with internet access in all 6,300 or so public high schools in the country. Already, more than 2,100 schools have connected, giving more than one million underprivileged kids access to the information available on the world wide web.

When Raymond Mendez heard about it, he immediately emailed AF USA, saying he had been looking for ten years for a way to honor his mother, who was a public school teacher in Cavite. The trouble was, he didn’t know exactly where she had taught, as she had passed away some years ago. There were six such schools in Cavite and it seemed an impossible task to find out which one was his mother’s school. Fortunately, he told us that his mother had studied there in many years back and we found out that at that time, there was only one public high school there. Today, the Emiliano Tirona National High School in Cavite has a computer lab with internet access named after his mother.

Marilyn Abalos, a second generation FilAm, saw in GILAS a way of honoring her mother, now 94 years old. A retired Citibanker based in New York, Marilyn decided to identify a public high school in her mother’s hometown – Oton, Iloilo – and to undertake a campaign to raise the $6,500 needed to put ten PCs, a Local Area Network, and internet access in the school. She did it by sending an email to all her relatives and friends with a photo of her mother asking them to join her in this wonderful way of giving back – to her Mom, to her kababayans, and to her country. In about six months, she had reached her goal. Today, Marilyn has decided to also get more involved in the school, keeping in touch with the teachers and mentoring a number of students. She has also decided to sponsor a second school, still in Oton.

She is a perfect model for those who may ask themselves “What can one person do to change the lives of our brothers and sisters in the home country?” Marilyn identified her goal and rallied her natural circles – first her family members (Even her nephew asked his aunts and uncles to donate to GILAS instead of giving him graduation gifts.) and then her circles of friends and former colleagues in Citibank.

She is that One Voice. She has spoken up in the name of the kids in Oton, who, with their computer and internet literacy skills,will be better prepared for the workforce because one person cared. And inspired others to do the same.

Do you want to honor your mother? Find out what city or province she is from. Then email us (garchitorena.vp@ayala.com.ph) or give us a call (650) 598-3126. We will help you give her a Mother’s Day gift that will live in the hearts and minds of at least 500 Filipino youth.

Happy Mother’s Day!

Co-sponsored by the Ayala Foundation USA, NY Tri-State Team and the Philippine Consulate General, the Chess Challenge was to promote and raise funds for GILAS.

Challenger Ed Macaraeg was the only player whose game ended in a draw with Nonoy Rafael. He donated his $50 prize back to GILAS! Other challengers include Marilyn Abalos, Butch Agapito, Nick Arugay, Richie Flores, Rafael Garcia, Dima Gozman, Rudy Jimena, Nanding Mendez, Justin Rafael, Jacqueline Rafael and Fredi Taruc Players represented various organizations including the Filipino American Association of Engineers, Philippine Fiesta, AF-USA, as well as accountants, students, and chess groups.

Butch Agapito, Rafael Garcia, Ed Macaraeg and Fredi Taruc won gift certificates donated by the Village Chess Shop and Fat Cat.

AF USA President said, ” We are honored and hope that we can continue the partnership with Nonoy Rafael. He can inspire our young Fil Ams to aspire for excellence in such a difficult mental sport as chess.”

In addition to the 2008 title, Nonoy was 2007 NYC Inter-Bank League Team MVP, World Open Champion, NY Open Champion, five-time De La Salle University Champion, NCAA Board 1 Gold Medalist, Philippine Junior Finalist. He is Chief Tournament Director of the NY Fil-Am Chess Club for the past 20 years. He has more than 30 years of competitive chess experience. He is currently a Program manager for an aerospace company. Nonoy is a graduate of De La Salle University in the Philippines and Columbia University in New York. He is also the NY Chapter Vice President of the Filipino American Association of Engineers and was Vice President of the De La Salle Alumni Association East Coast.

Many, many thanks to our new partners – the NY-NJ-PA Friends of Asingan, Inc., especially Nueva Elma, the association’s president, Grace Espiritu, and Dr. Bernard Cruz and wife Nita who pledged $1,000. What’s amazing is that we have never met any of these Asinganians in person!

We’re just getting started. Can’t wait to get the first emails from the students of Toboy HS.

The ecard is here: http://www.gilas-usa.org/GilasEcard/GilasEcard.html

This campaign is really exciting because we have support from key parties:

• GILAS volunteers in NY/NJ/PA
• Asingan local government
• NY-NJ-PA Friends of Asingan, Inc.

Let’s not forget that we have the support of the growing number of GILAS supporters and donors. We plan to create a Yahoogroup to connect donors/supporters with Toboy HS. We can hardly wait to get that first email from one of the students, the first voice call over the Internet, etc.

Now take a look at the video below of our waste collection efforts at infamous Smoky Mountain.  You don’t see too much e-waste in the video.  But you can imagine what will happen as people start junking their old PCs.  It’s really sad.  Folks from Portland, OR recycle their old PCs and make use of them.  We don’t have enough PCs and most of them are underused.

Check out the Youtube video in my previous post about Freegeek.org.  They’ve been assembling PCs from used components for use by their own “poor” citizens in Portland, Oregon.  The per capita income in Oregon in 2005 was $32,103.  The per capita income in the Philippines is about $700.  Does it make sense for the citizens of Oregon to be going through trash dumps, looking for usable PC parts and assembling PCs, while we in the Philippines (where poor kids go through trash on Smoky Mountain) buy brand new Pentium 4 PCs for our high school students?