AAAC’s Ultimate Goal:

The Annual Pledge Campaign

Have you ever heard of the following?

Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach a man to fish and he will never go hungry; a simple lesson with profound meaning. It is the clear, unarguable lesson of the positive impact of education and sharing.

How about this simple, yet powerful thought?

A tiny drop of rain seems insignificant. On its own it just so may be, but together with many drops of rain—it has the power to move mountains.

These two lessons that we have all heard at one point or other in our lives are the very same tenets upon which the Ateneo Alumni Association’s Annual Pledge Campaign is based.

As individuals working together, we can make a positive and meaningful impact in the future of promising young Filipinos. Young Filipinos who could be future leaders of the nation. Having been blessed with the Lord’s good graces, with the good fortune to live in such a prosperous country such as Canada, where many of us have become financially stable, should we not share our prosperity with others? Aren’t these values that our Ateneo education and our Christian faith have taught us?

Our homeland still lies far from the shores of well-being, let alone prosperity. The growing gap between the haves and have nots become ever glaring and the Philippines cries out for honest and true leadership to help guide it towards stability. Sadly, a glaringly inordinate amount of this leadership comes from the rich “ruling classes” who have held sway over Philippine politics for far too many years. Though it would be unfair to combine all these leaders under one unflattering light, too many of them have either been serving their own self-interests or been found lacking in the proper tools to lead the country successfully. As we enter a new century, the most important thing that the Philippines needs is not food, or material support, but the development of an educated and socially-responsible group of young leaders. Leaders that the AAAC have been trying to foster through their charitable efforts.

While the annual Scholarship Dinner Dances have all been successful affairs, the AAAC has recognized an opportunity that is worth pursuing. Understanding the busy schedules of modern society, the AAAC saw that there were many in the Filipino community unable to show their support for such a worthy cause due to conflicting events or forgetfulness. To help those who cannot be active participants of the Dinner-Dance, and to also provide the opportunity for other members to make a more meaningful contribution to a cause they believe in, the AAAC has developed the Annual Scholarship Pledge Campaign. The Annual Scholarship Pledge Campaign allows AAAC members and others in the Filipino community to make an annual donation to the scholarship cause. As with the funds raised during the Dinner-Dance, proceeds from pledges will go directly toward the continued provision of educational assistance in the form of scholarships for deserving Filipinos in the Philippines and Canada.

Going beyond the restrictions of a one-night event, the Pledge Campaign can truly have a continuous and profound impact on the Filipino Community. Imagine the scope of good that can be achieved if every year, everyone who was able to make a contribution in the Filipino community did so? Toronto boasts one of the largest and most active Filipino populations in North America and the world. Imagine the impact it would have if our financial resources were responsibly pooled to serve a common good?

Estimated Projection based on number of Pledges:

A hundred years from now, it won’t matter what kind of house you lived in, or the kind of car you drove, or how much money you had in your bank account …but the world may be a better place because you were important in the life of a promising young child.