Damayan: Compassion and Faith in Action
Damayan—a word that stands for compassion and putting faith into action. Caritas Manila untiringly brings this word to life with its program: Caritas Damayan.
Caritas Damayan is the preventive health and disaster management program of Caritas Manila. It provides emergency assistance to 50,000-100,000 families every year.
Nurturing Health, Dignity, and Resilience
In Caritas Damayan, volunteers and donors unite to provide preventive healthcare services, crisis intervention, supplemental feeding, disaster relief and rehabilitation, and plant-based food security.
Its beneficiaries are:
- Victims of Calamities
- Poorest families
- Poor Dioceses
- Individuals in Crisis
- Vulnerable Groups
Feeding and Nutrition Program for Poor Malnourished Children
Provides supplemental feeding to poor malnourished children in urban poor areas for 120 days.
Feeding and Nutrition Program for Poor Pregnant and Lactating Mothers
Provides supplemental feeding to poor pregnant and lactating mothers for 120 days as well as vitamins and mother’s classes.
Preventive Health
Offers free medical consultation, medicines, and laboratory or diagnostic tests to urban poor family partners in Caritas Health Clinics.
Disaster Relief and Rehabilitation
Provides disaster relief and rehabilitation assistance to victims of calamities within 24 to 72 hours.
Crisis Assistance
Offers crisis intervention assistance such as free medical treatment, medical equipment, burial assistance, legal and psychosocial assistance.
Plant-based Living
Aims to address food security and intensify environmental advocacy through sustainable farming practices, and ensure physical wellness through plant-based diet.
Munting Pag-asa Integrated Nutrition Program
This nutrition program aims to alleviate extreme hunger & malnutrition and improve the overall health of poor malnourished children age 6 months to 12 years old. These children undergo supplemental feeding for 6 months and are given vitamins, hygiene kits, and food keepers. Both children and parents also undergo health & nutrition education.
A donation of Php 6,000 can feed ONE poor malnourished child for 120 days with inclusion of vitamins, hygiene kits, food keeper, tumbler, vegetable grow kits and financial literacy & savings program for their parents.
Feeding Sites
- Our Lady of Peace and Good Voyage Parish (Tondo, Manila)
- San Rafael Arkanghel Parish (Tondo, Manila)
- Our Lady of the Airways Parish (Pasay City)
- Kabaka Foundation (Pandacan, Manila)
- San Agustin Church (Intramuros, Manila)
- Mary Comforter of the Afflicted Parish (Pasay City)
- Sto. Nino de Baseco Parish (Tondo, Manila)
- St. John Bosco Parish (Tondo, Manila)
Unang Yakap
The Unang Yakap Nutrition Program aims to alleviate extreme hunger & malnutrition and improve the overall health of pregnant and lactating women. These mothers are also enrolled for 120 days of supplemental feeding. The program also includes a prenatal package and an informative class for mothers.
With only Php 10,000 you can feed ONE nutritionally-at-risk pregnant/lactating mother for 120 days, with inclusion of vitamins, hygiene kits, food keeper, tumbler, pre-natal or post-natal package, vegetable grow kits and financial literacy & savings program.
First 1,000 Days
Unang Yakap focuses on the “first 1,000 days” from pregnancy to the child’s first two years. This is the window that helps prevent long-term effects of malnutrition.
All is Well Preventive Health Program
The All is Well program is rooted in the healing ministry that marked Jesus’ mission on earth. It is designed to provide immediate healthcare to the urban poor population.
All is Well offers the following clinic services for urban poor family partners:
- Free Medical Consultation
- Free Medicines, and;
- Free Laboratory or Diagnostic tests
There are 25 Health and Wellness clinics in the Archdiocese of Manila covering the cities of Manila, Makati, Pasay, San Juan, Mandaluyong, and relocation sites in Laguna and Montalban.
Clinics are manpowered by 200 volunteer healthcare professionals and trained clinic volunteers. The clinics were established to deliver the healthcare needs of the poor, the uninsured, and the underinsured.
Under the program is the Blue Zone Movement–a 3-month health and wellness challenge focused on plant-based living. It is an Intensified Health Education Class promoting appropriate health-seeking behavior.
A donation of Php 2,000 for 1 participant covers all various activities, biometric screening, and health tasks.
Caritas Cadamay
Emergency relief response within 24 to 72 hours is the most crucial time to respond to victims of calamities.
Caritas Cadamay ties up with organizations, volunteers, and parish or diocesan partners nationwide to provide efficient and effective relief aid to those in need.
Depending on the severity of the calamity but there are more or less 100,000 families assisted yearly.
What We Provide
- Relief packs provided are:
- Manna Food Packs (worth Php 1,000)
- Medicine Kit (worth Php 500)
- Bedding materials (worth Php 5,000); and
- Wash kits (worth Php 2,000)
- For Recovery and Rehabilitation, we provide:
- Livelihood assistance
- Fishing and farming assistance (worth Php 5,000-100,000)
- Shelter Repair (worth Php 5,000-10,000); and
- Reconstruction of 3-in-1 Churches as places of worship, evacuation center, and multi-purpose centers (worth Php 2 million)
Caritas in Action (Crisis Assistance Program with Radio Veritas 846)
To reawaken the “Good Samaritan” in every person and to extend genuine acts of mercy, Caritas Manila launched the Crisis Intervention and Assistance Program. With its radio platform called “Caritas In Action Program” which is in coordination with Radio Veritas 846, CIA directs its services to 10,000 poorest of the poor individuals.
List of Available Services
The CIA Program offers the following crisis intervention services:
- Medicine Assistance
- Medical equipment and supplies
- Crisis food bag or Manna bag
- Burial food pack assistance
- Funeral Assistance
- Hospital Bill Assistance
- Laboratory Assistance
- Blood Requests
- Psychosocial services referral, and;
- Legal services referral
A PRE, PROPER, and POST phase of intervention is conducted to assist every client towards recovery and rehabilitation.
We also attempt to lessen their dole-out dependency by providing them with self-empowerment opportunities like parish involvement and volunteering in their communities.
A donation worth of Php 5,000 can help provide the needs of crisis clients on their medical, funeral, and clinical treatments.
GEN 129
GEN129 is a plant-based diet program intended to create a better common home and a more sustainable future. It aligns with “Laudato Si” which is Pope Francis’ encyclical on caring for our common home.
GEN129 is taken from Genesis 1:29 – “Then God said, ‘I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food.'”
Gen 129’s main thrusts are: addressing food security, curbing poverty, intensifying environmental advocacy, ensuring physical wellness through plant-based diet, and caring for God’s creation.
Gen129 aims to transform vacant church lots or spaces into urban or rural community farms to address food insecurity and promote a plant-based lifestyle.
Sustainable Farming and Waste Management for Community Well-being
The program has distributed more than 2,500 hydroponic and composting kits as starter kits for household food production and waste management systems. It currently operates eight farm sites: seven parish-based sites in Manila and one production site in General Trias, Cavite, known as “BK Farm,” covering nearly seven hectares dedicated to food production. Harvests from BK Farm primarily supply Caritas Manila feeding sites.
Vegetable grow kits costs around P1,000 with provision of inputs and materials, while an Outdoor Modular Hydroponics set-up costs Php 12,000.
One of Gen129’s parish-based farming initiatives is the “Food Farmacy Project,” implemented in partnership with the “All Is Well” program under Caritas Damayan. This initiative provides beneficiaries, referred to as “challengers,” with vegetables as part of a lifestyle management plan aimed at reducing reliance on pharmaceutical medicine—hence the name “Food Farmacy.”
The program also operates a self-sustaining Material Recovery Facility (MRF) in the BASECO community. It is a waste management facility where waste materials, particularly recyclables, are collected, sorted, and processed for reuse or resale by local “door-to-door collectors.”