National Women's Month: Amazing Women Exhibit

As part of National Women's Month, Gifts & Graces in conjuction with SM Supermalls' SM Cares program is holding a month long exhibit celebrating the stories of 5 women leaders from our community partners. The women include Cielo Bueno of the Kaakbay Entre-workers Cooperative, Sr. Celerina of The Holy Spirit, Haydee Panhilason of Heidie's Crafts, Mel Nuqui of DAWN and FCED President Ms. Teresita Silva; all highly inspirational women that are helping to change lives through their organisations.

The exhibit entitled, "Amazing Women: Women On a Mission to Empower and Nurture," launched yesterday at SM Southmall (to coincide with International Women's Day) and will run until Friday March 16. On 19 March the exhibit will move to SM Megamall for one week until 23 March. Finally the exhibit will be at SM Mall of Asia from 26 March until 31 March.

Highlights of the exhibit include inspirational talks given by the women leaders, demonstrations of fabric weaving and bag making, craft activities as well as an Expression Wall where you can leave your special message for the important women in your life. Do come and support G&G at this special event, you can even purchase your favorite G&G products at the exhibit's bazaar.

We will also be posting the stories of our women leaders right here on our blog throughout the month.

V-day awww inspiring cheesy lines

For this season of hearts, G&G put up a special window display.

On our other window we wrote cheesy pick up lines and our neighbors in Mile Long joined in on the fun. The best ones win a special prize.

Here are a few of the ones we like:

Dalawang beses lang kita mamahalin: now and forever -tim 118

Hindi ka naman camera pero sa tuwing nakikita kita napapangiti ako -marlyn

Sabi nila what you see is what you get. Eh paano ba yan nakita na kita e d akin ka na -niki
 
Here are some from our friends on Facebook

Bagyo ka ba? kasi the moment you left my heart was in a state of calamity - Danie

Aren’t you tired? cos you’ve been running through my head all day. :) - Ponce

and from Vincent - “Pwede mo ba akong samahan?” “Saan?” “..habambuhay..” ;)

Finally, not an entry but from a photo in SUBTLEtumbles: If you were ice cream you would be my favorite flavor. 

And from the sea of love blog: By the way, I'm wearing the smile you gave me.


Sweet stuff! Give your loved one a special G&G gift and maybe one of these cheesy lines!

Happy V-day!

Ex Libris: From the G&G team's bookshelves

This month in our special feature Ex Libris, Latin for from the books, we once again peek into the bookshelves of the G&G team. This month, Greg and Aun share their recommendations:






On Strategy

What Every CEO Needs to Know About Nonmarket Strategy by David Bach & David Bruce Allen.  

I enjoyed reading this paper because the concept of nonmarket strategy extends the concept of Porter's Five Forces and says that leaders should take into consideration the political, social, and policy environments and create opportunities in them.  One of my favorite examples of non market

strategy is Toyota's steps to influence policy around the use of hybrid cars. They successfully lobbied for the passing of a law in California to allow hybrid cars to use the carpool lane even with only the driver in it. By looking at and shaping their nonmarket, Toyota was able to create an environment that boosted sales of the Prius. What nonmarket forces impact the competitive advantage of your enterprise? 

- Greg

On History 

At Home: A Short History of Private Life by Bill Bryson 

A fascinating look, through the lens of history, at the modern house and all the things we seem to fill them with. Bill Bryson books are a must for those who love to find out random facts about everything 

- Aun

Happy Reading!

Conversations

A Conversation with Ms. Sandy Romualdez

For our next batch of Conversations we bring you chat sessions between Lexi Schulze, Associate Features Editor of Metro Society and several of our board members. These interviews were conducted in line with Shopping for a Cause, Lexi's article about Gifts and Graces which came out in Metro Society's October 2011 issue. 

Here we're proud and happy to share with you the highlights of Lexi's chat with Sandy, G&G's Founder and President.

LS: Were you always into outreach growing up? 

SR: My school Assumption instilled in me a strong sense of social responsibility. We had many outreach programs and immersions The one that had a strong impact in my life was an immersion we had in Baguio....I experienced how a farmer lived. Although it was only for a week it opened my eyes to social realities in a faith experience.

LS: How did you get involved with Gifts and Graces?

SR: The idea of the foundation germinated when I was taking up my Masters in Development Management. I discovered that many foundation put up livelihood programs to help people out of poverty but have difficulty selling and marketing these goods to the public. This is where we thought Gifts and Graces could help.

LS: Why is the organization called Gifts and Graces?

SR: Mariles Gustilo , who's one of the most creative people...she and her team at Lowe helped us develop not only a name but also a branding identity for the foundation. We loved the name Gifts and Graces because it captures what we do in the foundation.... "with every gift purchased you share your graces with those in need

G&G in Metro Magazine October 2011 issue

The October 2011 issue was Metro Society's Advocacy Issue. Much of the issue was devoted to different advocates and their causes. We are proud to say that G&G was featured here twice!

On page 122, Associate Beauty Editor Marichelle Ligon and Photographer Tinee de Guzman wrote about Gifts and Graces and "a graceful partnership between entrepreneurs and local communities. . ." The article featured the different G&G products photographed in our showroom including modern Filipino foldable overnight bags with native woven cloth accents, picnic baskets made out of directory pages, stuffed toys made out of high end upholstery retaso and many more.

On page 151, Metro Society asks "If you could change the world. . ." and talks to people and corporations who, insteadof waiting for others to fix it, lend a hand and even help other change the world. This section features Gifts and Graces once more. This time Associate Features Editor Lexi Schulze and Photographer Pat Mateo captured the Gifts and Graces social entrepreneurs together with more G&G products - agate bag charms, luggage tags, and our very popular handpainted newspaper bags.

In line with this article, Lexi talked to different G&G board members. Read our other blog post featuring Lexi's conversation with Sandy Romualdez.

We'd like to give special thanks to Editor-in-Chief Raul Manzano who in his Editor's letter said

          "Gifts and Graces operates on a smaller scale (as PBSP), yet it is just as important. Established some five years ago to help poor communities. . .by producing crafts for the home, accessories, toys,. . .Gifts and Graces not only gives these communities steady income, but more importantly, a reason to hold their heads high and be proud, functioning members of society."

And this reflects how we feel about our partners as well, we are proud with how far they've come and we are happy to be part of their journey towards breaking the cycle of poverty.

Thanks again to Raul, Marichelle, Lexi, and the team at Metro Society for believing in Gifts and Graces and helping us promote our cause! Cheers!