President’s Viewfinder
September 2022
Bern Wong
As we reach the tail-end of 2022, we know that September is the unofficial (or official) start of the festive holiday season in the Philippines, the excitement and busy-ness just builds up. The same goes at Zone V Camera Club (ZVCC) wherein additional exciting activities are lined-up to make the member experience more memorable and meaningful.
I am pleased to announce that one of our successful projects in 2021 will have a repeat this year – the Images of H.O.P.E. The project aims to help the underprivileged youths in their education from the proceeds of the sale of our printed photos, thus, ZVCC and our images as a possible catalyst in Helping Others Prosper and Excel (H.O.P.E.).
The chosen beneficiary for 2022 is the ERDA SaBaNa Center, a foundation that nurtures children through education, located in Tondo, Manila, and has around 600 marginalized youths under its wing.
ERDA stands for Educational Research Development Assistance Foundation Inc., established in 1974, and has satellite centers nationwide. One of which is the SaBaNa Center, which is an acronym for Sanayan ng mga Batang Nananambakan, translated as, training and learning center for youth scavengers.
The ZVCC Board met up and formalized its commitment with the ERDA SaBaNa on the 1st day of September. We were able to see for ourselves how we can help and saw the center’s dire need for desktop computers that will aid its children to cope with the demands of learning.
Photo above: ZVCC Board visits ERDA SaBaNa together with ERDA Chairman, Atty. Charlemagne Yu (left most) with ERDA President, Father Ari Dy (center, wearing red); Top photo with ERDA SaBaNa volunteers
It has strengthened our resolve to come up with our print sale fund-raising project, Images of H.O.P.E. which we target to happen on October 23-31, as it is deemed a worthy cause.
We realize that we have a treasure trove of images based on the beautiful digital photographs submitted from 2020 up to the present from our monthly contest, to fast-track the process, the curation team has selected from our wealth of photos that would form part of our print sale for ERDA SaBaNa.
My request is that everyone takes an active part in Images of H.O.P.E. 2022 the same way you did last year so that it will give us an opportunity to touch lives of those who need it most.
On another fun note, after two years without having face to face out-of-town shoot, ZVCC will have its OTS in San Pablo, Laguna. Shooting dates will be from September 22-25, but we hope you get to join us during the fellowship night on September 24, Saturday.
There will also be a Z Academy session this month with travel and landscape photographer Francis Ansing as resource person.
Last but not least, I hope to see you during our next town hall meeting as we expound more about our forthcoming activities and most importantly to see the beautiful photographs submitted for this month’s theme, Then and Now.
Finally, my deepest gratitude for your continued trust and support – then, now and beyond!
Sincerely,
