PASIG CITY, (PIA) -- Caritas Philippines will soon launch its expanded “Alay Kapwa” campaign for its “legacy programs” and in order to respond to local realities that require immediate support.

The Church’s social action arm is expanding its Lenten fund drive to year-round, hoping to raise at least ₱500 million a year to fund its humanitarian and social projects.

Caritas Philippines president, Bishop Jose Colin Bagaforo said they hope to bring their programs “to as many families and communities as we can”.

“Alay Kapwa is where everyone can share their time and little treasures for people who are in need,” Bagaforo said in a recent press briefing.

The movement aims to enlist at least one million donors by 2025, who will commit to give at least ₱500 annually for its programs on disaster response; health; education; livelihood and food security; ecology; and training to empower and capacitate social action teams.

“We need to fund these programs and, hopefully, everybody can participate and create miracles in the country,” said Fr. Antonio Labiao, Caritas’ executive secretary.

Alay Kapwa was launched in 1975 by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) to raise social consciousness about the plight of the poor and build networks of compassion.

Almost five decades later, the program continues to be a pilot program of the Church to support social action initiatives for communities in need.

Likewise, Fr. Tito Caluag, head of Caritas’ expanded Alay Kapwa program, said that the ₱500 million a year “will assure sustainability” of the agency’s projects and initiatives.

To ensure that funds are fully accounted for, the priest said that Caritas has constituted a special oversight committee composed of volunteer bankers.

“Fundraising is the means to fulfill the mission and the mission is to make the Philippine church a church with and for the poor,” Caluag said. (CBCP/PIA-NCR)