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Dasmariñas, Philippines, is a busy city south of Manila—an up-and-coming area struggling with very real poverty. Poverty to the point of needing to take out high-interest loans just to buy food, then taking out other loans to pay off the first one in a vicious cycle.
In response, The Salvation Army Dasmariñas Corps created a mini-store, run by volunteers from the corps, to provide a low-cost option for food essentials and allowing customers to purchase on credit without interest. The store’s profits are pooled together and annually divided amongst the volunteers and the church community.
Learn about this fascinating community and the way the local corps shares God’s love with their neighbors by meeting them where they’re at, not only spiritually, but also physically.
Below is a transcript of the video edited for readability.
Captain Christopher De Leon: Dasmariñas is a place of great potential, where there are schools, a university, a hospital, markets, and parks for recreation. But because of poverty, there are many people who go into debt when they don’t have anything to eat.
They don’t really have any resources, or any other means to earn a living. As much as they want to work in big companies, they cannot, because they did not complete their education. Sometimes they come to a point where the easiest way in their mind is to get loans and even before paying the previous loan, they go into more debt.
Sometimes they will pay and then borrow again just like that, and it becomes a vicious cycle. Since they are not able to buy any more from the stores, their needs are not met. Their debts keep piling up until they are overwhelmed.
[We] hear their stories, and as part of the community, our goal is to reach out and help the community, and our Corps members. We are not just spiritual, we know that the need of the community is also physical. Isn’t it? So we established a mini-store to help the community.Josefina Cabrera: Now there is a little store. It’s also a good thing that instead of paying debt to others with interest, they just pay for what they have taken today.
Leonila Rarugal: We are trying to help others. We are not just trying to help ourselves. We are volunteers.
Josefina Cabrera: We save money, separate [it], at the end of the year, there are [savings] for us, but we are also going to be sharing with the community.
Captain Christopher De Leon: Our mini-store was started for this reason, it was established to help others, to help the community.
Captain Medina De Leon: At the mini-store, when the customer comes, sometimes very tired, and depressed from having debts, and these ladies come to the rescue with counseling. That’s how we can see the love of God. God loves us and we want to share that love with you.
Captain Christopher De Leon: How can we help people see God’s love? When we say we love God, we should show it by our actions. If we only use words without action, it is useless, right? That’s it. If we love God, let’s show it in action and not just words.
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