Unveiling the Essence of Service: A Journey to Thousand Smiles

Public service needs no position to be realized. All you need to have is the passion, dedication and love for what you are doing, because I believe that the real essence of service is helping and serving the lowliest without counting the cost or asking something in return. Come and join me to this noble calling of helping and leading the youth towards a brighter and a better future.

As a youth volunteer in my community, I see to it that in every steps I take, it should be for the benefit of my fellow youth. July 6, 2021, I was elected as the President of the Kabataan Kontra Droga at Terorismo in my local community. It was an organization established by the National Task Force to End Local Communist and Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC), to aid the Philippine National Police (PNP), and Armed Forces of the Philippines in their fight against drugs and terrorism. We in our local community serves as a watchdog and a force multipliers which will advocate for a drug and insurgency free community. With our organization, we wanted to keep away our youth from the influence of such, by doing literacy programs.

Furthermore, I will be highlighting here our initiatives in helping those who are in need, through giving food packs and feeding programs for children. Our feeding program was made possible, through our generous donors abroad, which really extended their valuable resources for our young children.

We, in the Kabataan Kontra Droga at Terorismo San Jose Chapter choose the young children of Sitio Camagayan and Sitio Santa Cruz of San Jose, Borbon, Cebu, as the recipient of our free cooked food packs. It contains the famous Filipino "puso" which is a rice cooked in coconut leaves, and the famous Cebuano letchon. I still remember when a police officer that assisted during the distribution of food packs was shocked when he knew that we are giving away letchon. He even told me that, in their experience of assisting feeding programs, the common food that others serve was "lugaw", and here comes the KKDAT San Jose giving away letchon. "Sana all", he added. That's how generous San Josehanons are sir, I replied and laughed. I see how these children our truly grateful for what they've received. Seeing there happy faces and genuine smiles after receiving the food packs, really touches my heart. I even told myself, what a wonderful feeling is to help. It gave me the satisfaction that, once upon a time I once gave and put a smile on these kids faces, through our kind and generous donors.

Our feeding programs doesn't stop, still we in the organization are in search for a kind donor to help our noble cause in helping our youth. We don't have such budget from the local community since we are a youth serving organization which means a volunteer organization, no compensation just purely service for others. Sometimes, serving others will cost yourself, but seeing the fruit of your labor and being reciprocated is the most wonderful thing to feel. We in the organization do this for the welfare of the youth, we do not ask for something in return, because all we want in the organization is to help and make the world a much safer place for the young.

I am so thankful that there are such kind people who answered our call to help our young children. The same donor from abroad again gave her valuable resources for another feeding program. I am so immensely grateful to the donor, for the another chance to touch the hearts of the young. Immediately after, we organized the feeding program at Sitio Santa Cruz.

This time, it's puso, fried chicken and soft drinks. It was our another chance to show our support for our young minds. Through this initiatives we are able to feed more or less 150 children. I also thank the people behind the scenes, who made the activity a successful one. My mother, cousins and those random people all work to fried the chicken and pack the meals for the children. The kids joy and smiles, made all of our efforts in the organization valued and appreciated.

Up until today, we are committed to serving our youth. The Kabataan Kontra Droga at Terorismo focal person, which is yours truly, was appointed as the Local Youth Development Member of the Local Youth Development Office of Borbon, this means another chance to serve a larger scope of people and a much bigger challenge and opportunity to lead.

Moreover, we also have initiated relief programs in parts of Compostela, Cebu and Lapu-Lapu City, Cebu during the aftermath of the super typhoon Odette, which greatly brought massive destruction in some parts of Cebu. We solicited in order to have the chance to give to others who are mostly in need during those trying times. Again, I am so thankful for those people who tirelessly extended their efforts and resources in order to make our relief operation activity a success. Through the efforts of the Municipal Police Office of Borbon, our activity translated to success.

I am also proud to make Kabataan Kontra Droga at Terorismo San Jose Chapter a Registered youth serving organization in Borbon and in the Philippines, through the efforts of our Local Youth Development Office. Yeyyyy! We are now National Youth Commission (NYC) accredited and registered.

This only proves that you do not have to be in a position to help others, you as an ordinary citizen can make a difference in the lives of others. Our small kind donations means a lot for those who are in need. If you are willing to extend some of your resources, we are more than happy to receive it. Let's work hand in hand and together let us put another smile on the faces of our children. Let us lose ourselves in the service for others. Thank you for reading, have a nice day ahead.