PROJECTS:
Literacy Programs and Classroom Support
Wild Orchid provides classrooms with essential supplies for learning, such as books and writing supplies. On September 9, 2016 we provided books for students at Upland Elementary for Mariano Mercado Day in Carcar, Cebu. Each of the students received a set of books for the year.
We also visit classrooms offering presentations, incorporating song and dance in our lessons to motivate and raise awareness. Our lessons serve to instruct and guide students, addressing such topics as emotional well being, hygiene, health, exercise and fulfilling one’s full potential. Part of our lesson plans include a letter writing exchange between Filipino students and those of other international classrooms to connect and create cultural bridges of good will and aware our shared humanity. Through our youth initiative we organize TWOF Junior Ambassadors, youths who volunteer and partake in TWOF community outreach activities.
Distribution of Clothes and Basic Supplies
On outreach Wild Orchid visits the underdeveloped barrios to distribute clothes and supplies for dental hygiene as well as other necessary toiletries. In 2017 Wild Orchid donated a needed refrigerator to a Barangay Birthing Center.
The Mariano Mercado Scholarship Program
In memory of the Lucero Family’s great grandfather, Mariano Mercado, former mayor of Carcar, Cebu and honorary humanitarian, The Wild Orchid Foundation offers this scholarship fund in his memory to underserved youths, wishing to pursue their education after high school graduation. This interval after highschool is a crucial time for youths, who are often unable to afford a higher education or vocational career training. Youths are vulnerable to the temptations of crime and threat of human trafficking. They often end up in jail, sometimes as young as the age of 15. The Wild Orchid Foundation offers an alternate future to youths through a continued education, financial assistance for necessary materials and mentorship.
Prison Rehabilitation & Motivation Initiative
Desperation from poverty can be a portal to crime for “immediate” sustenance. Once involved in this downward spiral, it is complex for some to resume an honest way of living. A filipino prison is often a place one goes waiting for a trial. Often the wait to a trial is indefinite. Many inmates are parents of young children, or barely children themselves. Wild Orchid addresses this social issue by inmate motivational mentorship through visitations, conversation, prayer, chess as a positive mental exercise, dance and yoga. Acting on our belief that everyone deserves an opportunity to change; and that while prison serves as a consequence, the ultimate resolution is to rehabilitate and offer incarcerated community members a new outlook, to overcome challenge and life opportunities to provide for their families.
In 2015 and 2016, The Wild Orchid Foundation visited CPDRC, a maximum security prison of approximately 1000 inmates, men and women inclusive. As ambassadors of hope, promoting personal accountability, we actively participated with the inmates through motivational speaking, group prayer, participation in dance rehearsals and performance. We gifted them chess sets and the Sto. Ninyo de Cebu statue, (Revered protector of Cebu) for their prison altar.
In 2016 and 2017, The Wild Orchid Foundation visited 2 correctional facilities in Carcar, Cebu. Offering one on one and group counseling, as well as chess lessons and chess sets. The Wild Orchid Foundation provided meals to the inmates in the detention center (in detention centers, meals are often only provided by the families of individual prisoners). We also collaborated in the annual Carcar Correctional Center’s “Got Talent” Show as guest judge to the inmates’ song and dance competition. Our message to incarcerated people is one of hope. We encourage them to use their time in prison, as one of reflection and to grow in their prison community with a positive mindset to choose a new life. We remind them of their self worth and individual importance. We support them in living to their fullest potential and the importance or their example to others.
