Thursday, January 8, 2026

Christmas Gift Giving 2025

 As we wrapped up the year 2025, the Tapulanga Foundation held its annual Christmas Gift Giving Program - sharing Christmas blessings to poor communities in Silay City and its neighboring areas. 


The program started last December 5 at Campuestohan Highland Resort in Talisay City as 59 Grade 10 scholars - accompanied by 3 teachers, 9 Tapulanga staff and 1 German volunteer - celebrated their fun-filled Christmas party. The students had a fantastic time taking part in few outdoor adventures (most activities were closed due to rainy weather) such as the water slide, wave pool and Ostrich feeding. It was a fun-filled day of excitement and exploration, leaving the 10th graders with unforgettable memories!



Through its "Adopt-a-School" program, Tapulanga extended its Christmas Gift Giving program to include gift packages (5kg rice, spaghetti pack and a bag of chocolates) for the following public schools:



December 9 


Napilas Integrated School | 252 students, faculty and staff

Emiliano Lizares Elementary School | 210 students, faculty and staff


December 11


Jose D. Cuaycong Elementary School | 170 students, faculty and staff


December 15


Camantero Elementary School | 100 students, faculty and staff


Bongol Elementary School | 140 students, faculty and staff


December 16


Dalinson Elementary School | 120 students, faculty and staff


EB Magalona National High School | 100 students


December 19


Cudangdang Elementary School | 264 students, faculty and staff


On December 11, 165 families in the fishing community of Sitio Roma, Silay City received their Christmas package consisting of a 5kg rice, spaghetti pack and a box of chocolates.




On December 16, the Locsin Genealogy Preschool Foundation also received Christmas gift packages consisting of 5 kg of rice, a spaghetti pack, and a box of chocolates for its 24 preschoolers, faculty, and staff.



On December 17, 85 dedicated teachers, staff, and volunteers from St. Francis of Assisi School of Silay City, along with the Tapulanga Foundation staff, received Christmas gift packages. These included ham, 5 kg of rice, and a pack of spaghetti.



On the 18th, the Tapulanga Foundation joyfully held its annual Christmas Gift-Giving Program at St. Francis of Assisi School of Silay City Foundation, Inc. With grateful hearts, we shared the spirit of Christmas with 519 scholars, from Preschool to Grade 9. Each scholar received a Noche Buena package filled with love and care, including a 5kg sack of rice, a spaghetti pack, and a special gift item to brighten their holiday. On the same day, the foundation was also able to share a Christmas Gift package to 4 scholars and 2 teachers at St. Roch School of Tanza. 


PRESCHOOL

GRADE 1

GRADE 2

GRADE 3

GRADE 4

GRADE 5

GRADE 6

GRADE 7

GRADE 8

GRADE 9

SAINT ROCH SCHOOL OF TANZA EB MAGALONA, INC.


On the following day, The Tapulanga Foundation's Christmas celebrations continued at Hacienda Tinihaban and Hacienda Lonoy. Through the support of our generous donors, 59 families from Hacienda Tinihaban and 50 families from Hacienda Lonoy received a Christmas gift package of a 5kg rice and a spaghetti pack.



On the  20th of December, the Tapulanga Foundation successfully concluded its Annual Christmas Gift-Giving Program 2025. Through this initiative, the Foundation shared Christmas gift packages containing 5kg of rice, a spaghetti pack, and a box of chocolates with its 65 Senior High School to College scholars—bringing extra joy this holiday season.


GRADE 11

GRADE 12

COLLEGE


With the overflowing blessings and continued support the foundation received this holiday season, we were able to extend our program to over 74 hardworking Sakada farmers, 3 water-refilling station staff, 7 carwash staff and 6 barbershop staff.


We extend our heartfelt gratitude to our generous donors and partners whose kindness and support made this program possible. Because of your unwavering support, over 2,300 families celebrated Christmas a little extra special. From all of us, thank you for being a blessing last Christmas. 🎄❤️

To God be all the Glory!






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Friday, October 24, 2025

Helen and Mona's Monthly Journal | September 2025

Hello, we are Helen and Mona, and we work as volunteers for the Tapulanga Foundation. We arrived in Silay at the beginning of September and will stay here for one year. We want to tell you about our experiences and about what’s happening at the St. Francis of Assisi School. 

On September 11, it was our first day at the school. It was interesting to watch the flag ceremony, as there isn’t anything similar in German schools. The principal introduced us to the students, and we felt very welcome.

 


Helen joins Grade 8 on most days. There, she helps the students and teachers whenever needed and reminds the students to do their missed LAS.

 


Mona helps Ms. Ma in the preschool to sing and dance with the children, then she helps hand out the worksheets and work on them.



Furthermore, Helen had the chance to join Grade 9 in their cooking classes. It was very interesting to cook together with the students and to taste delicious Filipino food.

 


The preschool had a swimming day and we tried to swim one lap with the children and then take turns. Most of the children were very happy and motivated, and it was a lot of fun.

  


In our first month in the Philippines, we already witnessed two typhoons and one earthquake. We are glad that Silay wasn’t severely affected. It was our first time experiencing such forces of nature. Now we know that it is normal in the Philippines for face-to-face classes to be suspended due to high risk and bad weather conditions, and we know where to find the announcements when there is no school.

 

The last thing we want to report to you is the fire drills we took part in. We also have them in German schools, but we noticed some differences. Here, it is a requirement that firefighters observe and confirm that the evacuation was successful. So, there was one practice drill, and a week later, it was watched by the professionals. There are two different alarms, so everybody knows to which assembly point they should go. In Germany, we also stand separately in our classes, and the teacher confirms with a list that every student was rescued. Here, students themselves count, and it’s great that the students have so much responsibility and look out for each other.

 



We’re looking forward to staying here for a whole year and are excited to gain even more new experiences.

 

 

-Helen and Mona


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Monday, October 6, 2025

Volunteer Spotlight : HELEN

    




Name:

Helen Karolina Gerner

Age:

18 years old

Nationality:

German

3 Words to describe yourself:

Optimistic - Curious - Open Minded


Tell us about your career so far. What did you do before you came to volunteer in Tapulanga?

"I just graduated and did my A-levels"

 

Why did you choose Tapulanga?

"I really like their work, especially that so many students get a scholarship and I´m looking forward to the Christmas gift-giving. Additionally, I was really interested to experience a catholic private school in the Philippines and work there."


 What are your work duties in Tapulanga/SFAS? 

"I arrive in school around 7:15 am. After the flag ceremony, I walk together with the students to the classrooms of Grade 8. If I don´t have any other tasks, I will stay there the whole school day. During the lessons, I often move between the two Grade 8 classrooms and help the students, remind them to focus on their work or get them to catch up with missed LAS. In the breaks, I often spend time with the students and talk with them or they teach me some Ilonggo."


What is the most rewarding part of being a volunteer?

"It's amazing to have the chance to get so many experiences and learn about the culture, the life and the school system in the Philippines. Also, I really enjoy the kindness of the Filipinos. All students, the teachers and other people I meet seem to be very interested and happy about meeting us."



What do you look forward to in your 1 year of volunteer service?

"Learning even more about the Philippine food, culture, traditions, the people and hopefully getting fluent in Ilonggo."


What is the most exciting or most memorable thing that happened to you during your few days as a volunteer?

"Arriving in the Philippines and getting the very first impression of the country was memorable. The country is so colorful, there are so many plants everywhere and it´s just beautiful."



What do you find to be most challenging about your work? How do you deal with it?

"The language barrier. I'm trying to learn Ilonggo as fast as possible"


Who or what inspires you?

"I'm inspired by working with many different people, the interaction with them and making a difference together."



 Tell us more about yourself!


What are you passionate about outside of work?


"In Germany, I did a lot of voluntary youth work. For example, I was a team leader in a summer camp and head of the altar servers. Here, I am looking forward to all the new experiences, meeting new people, the food and traveling."




Tell us 2 things that you have learned so far.


"I learned how to ride a tricycle and some basic Ilonggo."



What is one thing you are good at?


"swimming"



What is one Tagalog or Ilonggo word/phrase you like to use?


"Halong!"




     Bonus Questions!


What’s your target destination in the Philippines?Why?

     "I would really like to visit the Rice Terraces because I have not seen one yet in real life." 


If you could swap places with someone else for a day, who would it be?

  "an astronaut"

      

 

   
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