CARITAS MANILA, the lead social arm of the Archdiocese of Manila in the Philippines since 1953, helps the poorest of the poor in Manila to alleviate scarcity through its education, health, and livelihood programs.

The thrust is to empower the urban poor with the right knowledge and skills to cope with persistent economic demands.

In celebration of its 55th anniversary, Caritas Manila spearheads a major fund-raising campaign to scale up the beneficiaries of its social services and development programs.

More scholars. More clinics. More jobs. More opportunities. More services.

More love.

After all, caritas is the Latin word for love.

Caritas Manila provides the impetus for individuals, civic organizations, and corporations to get involved in making poverty a nightmare of the past. The drive promotes reaching out to join a circle of involvement and kindness that will help more than 300,000 urban poor families.

This circle of involvement and kindness is well exemplified in Caritas Manila’s Internet fund-raising drive, The Play 4 Scholars Project, which brings online gamers and sponsors together to help send more than 8,000 poor children to school by simply playing the video game Wordtrotter. 


Some of Caritas Manila’s flagship programs:

1. Youth Servant Leadership and Education Program   
   
   Caritas Manila helps over 8,000 underprivileged children through the following:
   
   
   • Scholarships (formal and non-formal)
   • Capacity building for livelihood and skills training
   • Values formation for servant leadership, family life, and environment
   • Organizational development for volunteers and institutional partners
2. Health Care Program
   
   Caritas Manila’s health care outreach program brings the following services to the urban poor:
   
   
   • Primary health care and crisis intervention
   • Vicariate and parish-based clinics
   • Free medical and dental services
   • Nutrition and feeding program
   • HIV / AIDS education campaign
   Caritas Manila also assists in the Catholic Church’s efforts to eliminate malnutrition through the Hapag-Asa Feeding Program.
   
   Through its network and resources, Caritas Manila immediately responds to victims of man-made and natural calamities.
3. Socio-economic and Development Program
   
   Caritas Manila provides job opportunities as well as self-employment assistance to help the urban poor attain a more dignified life.
   
   Aside from job fairs and job placement desks, it has parish-based cooperatives for easy access to credit and capital.
4. Special Programs
   • Restorative justice that promotes the welfare of victims, the community, and the offenders
   • Paralegal services, values formation, and pastoral care for prisoners
   • Crime preventive interventions

Caritas Manila also assists communities and organizations and serves as a mediator for those facing evictions, demolitions, and relocations.

For more information, please contact:


You may also log on to www.caritasmanila.org.ph.