Aside from the personal motivation to render unpaid services, volunteers need support from the people around them specially their families.

The people of Sampaloc, Gainza in Camarines Sur yearned for an accessible health center and their voices were heard in 2012. Out of their utmost commitment and diligence, their new health facility was erected the following year through the Kalahi-CIDSS program. Since the primary requirement of the program is people participation, Sampaloc did not fail and got the funding of Php798, 560.50 for their longtime wish.

The Dalma family joined the whole village of Sampaloc, a poor agricultural area, to finish their health center because the residents would spend P26, a roundtrip fare, just to seek medical help in the town.

Cyrel Dalma, a mother of six, did not hesitate to tell Julio, her husband, that her presence and participation was summoned by her neighbors as a member of the barangay committee that will manage the resources received for their health center in 2012.

She was elected as the head of the Monitoring and Inspection Team (MIT), a committee formed in Kalahi-CIDSS which is responsible for the inspection of the completeness of the delivered supplies and materials procured by the community.

She needed to attend trainings as a volunteer to which her husband supported by nursing their youngest child in her absence, a task Julio never did before.

According to Cyrel, her husband and children were dependent on her when it comes to performing household chores. But there was a sudden shift inside their home when a portion of her time was devoted to volunteering.

Her children learned independence by washing the dishes and cleaning the house and the yard to which Cyrel was grateful of because she can rest when she gets home from meetings and trainings.

“Pag mayo ako, nakakaisip na man sinda na magtabang (They have initiative to help when I’m gone)”

As a high school graduate, her first try as a volunteer with hefty tasks on hand did not dishearten her. In the succeeding years, she remained as the MIT head for the construction of their drainage canal under Kalahi-CIDSS.

“Nachallenge ako bilang volunteer pero dakol akong naaraman (Being a volunteer is a challenge but I learned a lot),” she added.

For over three years of selfless love for the community that her family belongs to, she never surrendered to the challenges.

“Nagtagal ako bilang volunteer dahil sa suporta ning pag-iriba ko dahil nagatarabangan kami (I remained as a volunteer because they support and help me),” she added.

Cyrel is also a barangay health worker since 2009. Her three children became recipients of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program the same year.

According to her, the health center helped the beneficiaries of Pantawid Pamilya to get regular checkups because they now have nurses on duty from Mondays to Fridays. The drainage canal also prevented flooding and curbed dengue cases in their village.

Cyrel was motivated to live in a better community where they would not worry about their health and surroundings. The support she got from her family enabled her to perform her duty in the community to achieve better lives for everyone.

Kapit- Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan-Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of Social Services (Kalahi-CIDSS) is a DSWD program that seeks to help alleviate poverty through community-driven development (CDD),

CDD puts power back in the hands of the people by giving them the opportunity to make informed decisions on locally identified options for development and manage resources to implement sub-projects that address needs identified by communities themselves.