The first Arnold Janssen Kalinga Theater Arts Showcase was held at St Scholastica’s College recently.

“Our beloved homeless beneficiaries and volunteers took to the stage to display their unique talents in depicting their life stories with today’s signs of the times,” said Fr. Flavie Villanueva, SVD, who founded the Arnold Janssen Kalinga Center (AJKC), a ministry for the poor of the Society of the Divine Word (SVD), at the order’s well-known Catholic Trade Center in Tayuman, Manila, in 2015.

It was established in connection with the declaration by Pope Francis of 2015 as the Year of the Poor.

AJKC is named after the canonized German priest and founder of the SVD. It is a feeding and hygiene (toilet and bath) center for the poor. Lately it has also helped rehabilitate drug dependents and ministered to victims and families of extrajudicial killings (EJKs) as a result of the drug war.

“When our beloved homeless started their three-day workshop, they all looked timid and inferior, uncertain and afraid,” Father Villanueva said.

“After three grueling days of exercises, they were able to create something very beautiful out of their fears.”

AJKC seeks to recreate and empower lives of the homeless of Metro Manila.

Also in Tayuman is the Kalinga ALS Learning Center, the 110th of its kind under the Arnold Janssen Catholic Mission Foundation.

Those who would like to extend financial help can contact Father Villanueva at 0908-8838268.