POWER FROM WITHIN
Mary Ann Porciuncula Gonzales (or simply Me-Ann to her family and close friends) is a proud single mother and a grandmother. She is the President of the Barangay Duyan-Duyan Solo Parent Association and a Barangay Treasurer. Me-Ann used to be part of the barangay staff who helped organize the activities and registrations of participants. She was also one of the participants in the recently concluded MomSpectacular Day with Moms, a Mother’s Day outreach activity held on May 10, 2023, at Brgy. Duyan-Duyan, Project 3, Quezon City, that is sponsored by Amway Philippines’ Empowered Women Network and CSR in partnership with Philippine Children Ministries Network (PCMN).
This year, Empowered Women Network partnered with Food for the Hungry Philippines organized two outreach activities to support and empower women from the underprivileged areas. The first one was held last March 21 in Navotas, Quezon City. The second outreach activity was held May 10 at Project 3, Quezon City. In partnership with Philippine Children Ministries Network, both the EWN and CSR teams decided to conduct a Health and Wellness Day that celebrates mothers. It was a 2-hour program that had a health talk, a healthy meal cooking demo, and a Zumba session hosted by one of the Amway Business Owner-Volunteers.
Me-Ann still recalls how she viewed herself as weak and dependent on people around her. The source of her happiness and joy came from dole-outs and gifts from people she thought loved and cared for her. She then started thinking that her life was starting to become hopeless. Communicating with old friends and relatives gave her hope, and she eventually cracked out of the shell that enclosed her. Finally, fate had decided to end her series of unfortunate events when an opportunity to work in their Barangay as a treasurer came to her. She grabbed this opportunity and found joy in connecting with people. This situation made her look for her own strengths and capabilities as a woman.
Now that she’s given another chance in life, Me-Ann took charge of her decisions and continuously sought opportunities to improve herself. She is no longer dependent on others for a living nor wait for dole-outs to make ends meet. She relied on herself, her abilities, and her improved judgment to uplift her life and her family.
She is thankful to Amway Philippines Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and commends its Health, Nutrition, and Empowerment initiatives. She said this kind of program is a huge help to women who are struggling with their lives, just like how she once was.
During the program, the women participants were taught about Reproductive Health & Weight Management and shown a demo of how to cook a healthy meal. The people were obviously enthusiastic about the new knowledge that they gained on how to take care of themselves and their health, which they can use to take care of their loved ones. It was indeed a MomSpectacular day for everyone!
Every participant of the event received a gift pack that contains Glister™ Toothpaste, Nutrilite™ Acerola C, and Achievers™ Choco Drink as Amway’s way of thanking them for participating in the activities.
For Me-Ann, it was indeed a very fulfilling day. She loves empowering women and leading them to discover their power within themselves. For her, this is the biggest contribution she can do to look out for her fellow women-in-action.
