In 1983, a group of young filipines felt very strong in their hearts the desire to help those in need and to give their lives in loving service to the neighbor. They were the youth of the Focolare Movement, a lay association present in 182 countries all over the world. The first Bukas Palad Social Center was born in Pasay City, in Manila. Now, this reality is all over the Philippines, including Ta
gaytay City.
Our center in Tagaytay started in 1987. At the beginning we had no building where to run this social center. We started with 14 children and we were teaching them under the trees. Time has passed and with the help of lots of people and by divine providence, we acquired a small house, which is now the office, dental and medical clinic. We are located within Mariapolis Peace - a little city of the Focolare Movement - where pockets of poor families live in nearby communities/barangays.
Though Tagaytay is known to be a tourist destination, the gap between the rich who own vacation houses and those who scrounge for a living on a hand to mouth existence still exists. Many of these families have lived in Tagaytay for many years but still have not been able to improve their quality of life.
In the 90's, we had around 50-60 pre-school children and the place became too small to conduct all the activities. Until one of the sponsors from Italy gave donations, so that we were able to acquire another structure which is now our school building, library and kitchen.
Now, we have a Day Care Center that educate around 50 children. As well as our Livelihood Center that supports many small entrepreneur families. The center is able to sustain itself mainly on donations from generous people both local and foreign.
