‘Caregiving is a mission’
Laurena also encouraged the scholars to approach their studies with an understanding of both the skills and the character needed to care for others.
BLOOMBERRY Cultural Foundation executive director Filipina Laurena (2nd from left) and Pilipinas Shell Foundation executive director Sebastian C. Quiniones Jr. (3rd from left) hand a scholarship certificate to a beneficiary.
Photograph courtesy of PSFI.
Like doctors and nurses, caregivers are entrusted with people’s lives. This makes caregiving not just a profession. Alongside technical competence, caregiving is a mission to deliver kindness, patience and compassion.
Bloomberry Cultural Foundation executive director Filipina C. Laurena reminded this to 100 new scholars of BCF and Pilipinas Shell Foundation (PSF) during separate scholarship awarding ceremonies for the beneficiaries from Parañaque City and Quezon City.
Laurena also encouraged the scholars to approach their studies with an understanding of both the skills and the character needed to care for others.
Fifty Quezon City residents were awarded their training certificates under the Medical Scholarship Program-Technical-Vocational Caregiving Scholarship Program on 28 September. They will train at the Asia Pacific Caregiver and Healthcare Training Center Inc.
On 29 September, another 50 scholars, all residents of Parañaque City, attended their conferment and welcoming ceremony at the CAP Training and Assessment Center Inc.
The ceremonies brought together scholars, training institutions, barangay leaders, and program partners to celebrate this milestone and highlight the responsibilities that come with a future in care.
From rider to caregiver
For Ronald Alan Santos, one of the program’s outstanding scholars and now a full-time house parent at the Department of Social Welfare and Development, the scholarship was a great blessing in his life and opened a new path for his future.
Before joining the program, Santos worked as a delivery rider. He had long been searching for free caregiving training when he came across a PSF social media post.
He immediately expressed his interest and asked for a chance to become a scholar.
Sebastian C. Quiniones Jr., executive director of PSF, BCF’s partner for the program that provides the caregiving training through TESDA-accredited training centers, told the scholars to pay the blessing forward in everything they do in the future.
As scholars work toward their own aspirations, he said the skills they develop can also become a means of supporting others.
Since 2024, the TVCSP has supported 300 caregiving scholars, with a target of reaching 550 scholars by 2028. For the newest 100 scholars, the conferment ceremonies marked the start of a journey toward becoming caregivers who bring both competence and compassion to the people they serve.