13 AUG 2004

A Post-GA Message
by Jo Maribojoc, Executive Director

Dear JVP Community,

Can it be done?

Can we raise the attendance at the General Assembly and lunch program to a hundred? Can we share the General Assembly with the local communities outside of Manila? Can we have Senator Roxas and Secretary Soliman, Father Huang and Father Nebres and Father Bill speak to JVP at the lunch program? Can we have Misereor, our biggest funder for the longest time, write a message to JVP from Germany? Can we have a write-up and announcement about the General Assembly published in a major newspaper? These questions crossed my mind as I first envisioned and dreamed of the General Assembly and lunch program last Sunday.

Then came the day, August 8th, and it was done. With some thinking out of the box, planning and help of members of the Foundation headed by the General Assembly committee, the JVPFI Central Office, all the JVP local communities - Cagayan de Oro, Davao, Manila, Naga and Zamboanga - and other individuals who pitched in time, effort and talent, we had a meaningful, joyful and well-attended General Assembly, lunch program and mass last Sunday. Some said they had not seen anything like it happen in JVP. Others were amazed at the phenomenal amount of funds raised that day. If the attendance climbed to a hundred, so did the donations soar to nearly a hundred thousand, without counting yet the yearly contributions of the members. And it all started with a dream that many believed, shared and strove to realize.

Libre daw mangarap, kaya kung mangangarap ka na lang rin, mangarap ka na nang matayog. And dreams will never end as long as we do not stop thinking of them, but they will never come true until we start acting on them. Last weekend, dreams for the Foundation broke ground in the Board of Trustees meeting on Saturday where commitments were made for a stronger JVP Foundation and in the General Assembly where plans for the Foundation were presented and participation of the members was solicited.

Di na libre mangarap kapag nagtaya kang matutupad and pangarap mo. It will take the three T’s of time, talent and treasure, animated by the Trinity, to realize the dream of our Foundation to best contribute in building the just society that the JVP envisions. But it can be done - by the Board of Trustees, the JVPFI Central Office, the local communities (of which Davao, Cagayan de Oro and Zamboanga I will visit this Friday to Wednesday of next week to make a personal appeal with Naga and Manila to follow suit in the coming month), the donors and supporters of JVP, the entire JVP community. With each one of us playing his/her part in building the JVP Foundation and community, in building character and nation through effective faith-driven service, we are one step closer to our vision. And so will be the dreams of the students of Myke and Girlie in the far-flung barrio in an island in Masbate.

In Christ, Jo