G&G September newsletter

G&G is now at the Ayala Museum Shop! We share the news in our September newsletter. Also read about featured community Hardin ng Kalikasan. View it in your browser here then subscribe to our newsletter to get it in your email monthly. Thanks for your support!

 

 

The Charm of a Handwritten Note
In this day and age of the internet, we email instead of sending letters through snail mail, we write all-occasion e-cards instead of writing a handwritten thank you note, we have a private blog instead of writing in a journal. Is the art of writing with pen and paper dead?


Depends on who you ask. As for me, there's a certain beauty and charm to a handwritten note that comes from the effort and deliberateness that goes into it. Starting with the selection of your material - you consider several options - fine paper, linen paper, handmade paper; and your pen - fountain pen, gel pen, sign pen. Then you find a time and place to sit. Then you think and compose and write. 


And when you start writing - it's not only tactile, your other senses are involved too. Your sense of touch, sense of sight, sense of smell: ahhh the smell of the ink of a fountain pen.  On a side note, I just discovered that there is now scented fountain pen ink!  


It doesn't matter if your handwriting isn't that good. That's part of the gift - and the charm. Emails more often than not get deleted. But a well written note or letter that conveys your joy, gratitude, or sincerity, is kept, cherished, and re-read time and again. 


Is the art of writing dead? No I don't think so. It just got more exclusive. 


Experience the unique delight in writing a handwritten note with G&G's selection of note cards and all-occasion cards. Check out our journals too. There's nothing like having a beautiful notebook to write in. Visit our website and check out our Creative Pursuits collection.

From the G&G Creative Pursuits collection clockwise from top:
handmade paper monogram notecards with banana bark letters, in a set of 6 (available at Rustan's),
handmade paper all-occasion cards,
handmade paper Christmas cards.
Visit our website www.giftandgraces.com for more products
or email us at info@giftsandgraces.com

Conversations

This month, we introduce a new segment – Conversations where we sit down with G&G's favorite people – our clients, partners, producers, directors and many others, to pick their brains or go heart-to-heart on a range of topics. To kick off the series, we start with our volunteers: wonderful, big-hearted people who have so generously given of themselves and have contributed greatly to our projects and programs.

For our maiden interview, we talked to Ms. Chiqui Escareal-Go, President and Chief Service Strategist of Mansmith and Fielders Inc., an advocacy-based marketing and sales training and consultancy company. Chiqui very graciously agreed to be one of G&G's guest lecturers/facilitators at our Lecture Series for our partner communities in 2010. Here Chiqui tells us in her own words why she volunteered, what she did with us, and what she got out of it.

G&G: Tell us your Name, Age, Nationality, Occupation

Chiqui Escareal-Go, 49, Filipino, Trainer/Facilitator, Entreprenuer

G&G: What made you decide to volunteer with Gifts and Graces?

CEG: Belief in the sincerity of the advocacy and the people behind the advocacy

G&G: As a volunteer how did you use your skills and experiences to help G&G and its advocacy?

CEG: I helped in training in the area of positive thinking particularly reframing common issues for a more proactive, 'can-do' attitude; I have continued to remain involved with G&G through donations and training. Being involved also means patronizing products and services of G&G's partners.

G&G: Why should other people do volunteer work? What did you gain from it?

CEG: Any volunteer work grounds people to the life-giving, life-affirming, and life-empowering. Meaning, as volunteers “help others” they learn to raise their personal bars in resilience, resourcefulness, courage, empathy, hope, patience, creativity and yes, even re-define their sense of happiness and self. Simply put, when a volunteer “gives,” he/she actually “gains” more in terms of psychic rewards that are definitely priceless.

Above: Chiqui conducts a Creative Appreciative Workshop - a unique, refreshing, and empowering approach to initiate positive change

Below: G&G's partners have gotten into the spirit of the workshop. Chiqui listens in on one of the groups

Volunteer Spotlight: Michael Golsworthy

Conversations

Reposting this blog entry as a Conversation with Michael Golsworthy. Michael was with Gifts and Graces from September 2010 to April 2011. His many and varied contributions to the company are still being felt and used today. Get to know this former G&G Volunteer and be inspired to lend your time and talent to non-profits like G&G!

Michael Golsworthy (third from left) with Gifts & Graces staff. (L-R) Loida Balubayan, Fernando Regalado, Christina Pineda, Jonalyn Dupa, Marge Obligacion & Greg Perez at the Women's Empowerment event

G&G: Tell us your Name, Age, Nationality, Occupation

Michael Golsworthy, 28, Australian, Management consultant

G&G: What made you decide to volunteer?
MG: I volunteered because I wanted to utilise my consulting and project management skills to support a great cause: using entrepreneurship as a means to alleviate poverty.

G&G: As a volunteer how did you use your skills and experiences to help G&G and its advocacy?
MG: I worked together with Gifts and Graces to facilitate the development of its five year strategic plan and to assess and improve its organisational processes. During the course of the assignment, I also worked with G&G staff to build greater skills in strategic planning, project management and performance improvement methodologies to continue this work following my departure.

G&G: Why should other people do volunteer work? What did you gain from it?
MG: Volunteering can be both a professionally challenging and a personally rewarding experience. Many of the skills developed in the business sector can be applied to the non-profit sector, but often the challenges are greater due to the limited resources and multiple social and financial objectives. Experience in the non-profit sector can be invaluable in other sectors, for example solving problems in a resource-constrained environment. Personally, volunteering in the non-profit sector is both enjoyable and highly rewarding. The work is interesting, the sector is full of energetic and passionate individuals and the human impact of the work is not only very real, but creates a feeling that is impossible to match. 

Click here to read the second part of this conversation. Below is Michael's profile in the Australian Youth Ambassador (AYAD) Website:

Michael will be based in Manila on an eight month project assisting Gifts and Graces Fair Trade Foundation to improve its organisational performance. Gifts and Graces support marginalised groups in their quest to become self-sufficient through livelihood. The organisation helps its partners with product design and development, and builds capability in production, enterprise management and marketing.

Michael is passionate about improving the operations of organisations in the not-for-profit sector to achieve the best possible social outcomes with the limited resources available. He is very excited to have the opportunity to work together with Gifts and Graces to facilitate the development of its five year strategic plan and to assess its current organisational processes to identify and implement improvement opportunities. During the course of the assignment, Michael will coach Gifts and Graces staff in project management and performance improvement methodologies to ensure the organisation gains the capacity to continually improve its performance following his departure.

Michael has a Bachelor degree in Economics from Monash University and a Master of Commerce (International Business/Finance) from the University of Sydney. He has worked in international trade policy with the Australian Government and as a management consultant with PricewaterhouseCoopers, where he specialised in improving performance for government and not-for-profit sector clients.

Michael hopes to utilise his consulting and policy skills and experience to deliver sustainable and replicable organisational improvements at Gifts and Graces. 

Michael Golsworthy (corner right) in discussion with G&G's partner producers

 at this year's Partner Conference

Gifts and Graces is always in need of volunteers to help us with our fair trade and livelihood support advocacy. If you have some time to spare, why not use it to make a difference in the lives of our partner marginalized communities? Help us with product design, writing, marketing, promotion, selling, capacity building or just come help us brainstorm ideas on how to make fair trade and social enterprises top-of-mind for shoppers.

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If you'd like to volunteer with Gifts & Graces you can write to us at:

info@giftsandgraces.com or call us at 759 - 2525

or visit us at: Unit 131 G/F Mile Long Building, Amorsolo St. Makati City

Santa Time: Be Prepared!

It's that particular "ber" month when you can no longer ignore the Christmas jingles wafting from the radio, when you see the first twinkle of fairy lights. You know you have to start shopping very soon or you'll be overrun by last minute Christmas shoppers. Before you start on your list though, buy a few things for yourself from Gifts and Graces first that will make the mad holiday rush a little bit saner.

Big Plastic Baul 

Kids are nosy and gifts create lots of clutter. Buy these big boxes from Gifts & Graces and make this your designated gift container. The buckle will keep the little hands at bay & the generous size will ensure that it will fit your presents until it's time to put them under the tree!

Made of plastic strips by urban poor men of Malabon.


Handmade Paper Journal

Make your list of who's been naughty or nice in this journal made of renewable resources such as Cogon Grass & Banana Bark. The sale of this product benefits displaced women in Quezon.

Mangyan Cloth Organizer

Christmas is a time when nothing is ever in its proper place and when clutter is in an all-time high. Keep your essentials tucked into something pretty and safe with these Mangyan Cloth organizers. Keep your scissors, pens, tape and other wrapping and writing essentials at hand and then roll them and keep them out of sight when you don't need them. Saves you from clutter and going insane trying to find them!


Sewn by urban poor women of Valenzuela City.


Magazine Bag

When doing your shopping, do your part in helping out the environment. Refuse the little plastic bags that they give you and put your purchases in these one-of-a-kind Magazine Tote Bags instead. These are big and roomy and are a conversation piece to boot!


Also available in SM Kultura outlets.