The Guanella Center (Guanella Center, Inc. / Guanella Home for Special Children)

August 2023 – The Servants of Charity are missionary priests and brothers, founded in Italy by Blessed Louis Guanella. They strive to make visible God’s fatherly care, which seeks and loves all of his children, by reaching out to and caring particularly for the poorest and most fragile ones. Guided by the Lord and invited by the local church, the Blessed Louis Guanella Center in Tandang Sora, Quezon City and in 2001, the Harong Kan Sagrada Familia center in Legazpi City, Albay. Both centers have been open tents in welcoming the needy in order to extend to them and their families initial help, and to build around them a network of Christian solidarity. Barangay Bogtong is situated at the foot of Ligñon Hill. Majority of the families here belong to indigent families. The head of the family used to work either as laborer or sometimes they are even jobless, whereas the mother works as laundrywoman but supports the studies of their children by enrolling them in public school.

Nutrition program Nutrition Program started in 2001, to help the indigent malnourished children with primary complex from 6-12 years old (elementary level) to improve their nutritional status as well as to rehabilitate them from the illness that they are suffering. The children are accepted after the check-up of the pediatrician. Proper medications are given to the children based on the doctor’s recommendation. Normally, the children come to the center from Monday to Friday at 4:00 p.m. to take their snacks. Children also received values & religious formation; socialization (TV viewing, games, catechism, storytelling) before taking their snacks. Parents are divided into several groups and given the schedule to prepare the food, to feed their children, to wash the utensils, as well as to clean the area, and now, to maintain a vegetable garden that the produce can help in sustaining the program.

As the year 2023 started, covid-19 cases decrease, thus half day face-to-face classes were recommended and permitted. Though permission was granted, the identified children received the regular meal daily at the center following proper safety protocol such as wearing facemask, using of alcohol and washing their hands before and after eating. From January to April 2023, children came to the center daily at 11:45 to take their lunch and go home, having no classes in the afternoon. Children were very happy for the face-to-face classes as well as for coming back to the center to take their regular meals. As the school year 2022-2023 ends, 3 students will graduate in 6th grade and 7 children will also be removed from the feeding program because they already reached the proper weight and height for their age.

Continuously, other activities in the center were also allowed including Spiritual formation and TV viewing as well as special activities from different groups like gift giving and special feeding with the condition that everybody will still follow proper protocol.

Other Programs:

Since the Pandemic started until this time, some of our programs were deferred to follow some protocol; hence, we made sure that the children were monitored and assisted with their needs through:

Monthly Parents Formation/Meeting (1st Friday of the month)
Parents Spiritual Recollection (2 x a year – April & December)
Monthly Children’s Mass (1st Sunday of the month) – restart by September 2023
Summer outing/ Field Trip (parents and children) (DEFERRED)
Supplemental Feeding from Monday to Friday @ 4:00 P.M
Emergency Medical assistance for members
Provision of Anti-TB medicine for children diagnosed to have primary complex (DEFERRED)
Medical evaluation/checkup

PLANS:

Continue monitoring of the children’s physical and health conditions
SUMMER: Possible outing of the children if group outing is allowed (DEFFERED)
To replace children who will finish/graduate this year with new indigent children qualified for supplemental feeding.
To continue the supplemental feeding program at the center by school Year 2023-2024.
To look for a sponsor for the school supplies of the children who have difficulty in acquiring such, due to family hardship in life.

Daily Supplemental Feeding: