Yummy 201612

Products that help alleviate poverty in
partnership with Gawad Kalinga

Building

communities

The makers

What initially started

as Tony Meloto’s

labor of love—

building homes for

the Philippines’s less-

privileged residents—

is now a massive

charitable operation

that includes

small businesses

and a handful of

interesting social

enterprises. The

brands featured

here were founded

by Gawad Kalinga

(GK) volunteers

as part of GK’s

business incubators

(including the GK

Enchanted Farm

and GKonomics) and

currently employ

communities that

reside in GK villages.

Gawad

Kalinga

Plush & Play

Started in Gawad Kalinga’s

Enchanted Farm, Plush &

Play handcrafts fruit- and

vegetable-shaped stuffed

toys. The small-scale social

enterprise was created to fill

the gap in the market when

it came to locally made,

toxin-free toys. In the spirit

of GK’s other enterprises,

Plush & Play fairly employs

three women as community

partners who sew the toys by

hand, each piece signed by

its maker.

Human Nature

Founded by three Gawad

Kalinga volunteers, this local

social enterprise produces

all-natural home, beauty,

and wellness products to

help restore and empower

local communities. Human

Nature works in tandem with

GK Enchanted Farm to help

develop a pro-environment,

pro-Philippines, and pro-

poor business venture.

Milvidas

Milvidas, which is “one

thousand lives” in Spanish,

focuses on empowering a

small community of women

through the production

of handmade items, like

napkins and coasters, woven

out of local yarn. Milvidas was

started by a small group of

women from a local Gawad

Kalinga community, and it

has since grown into a stable

social enterprise dedicated

to making a difference

through craft.

Domesticity

This homeware brand

produces locally made

handicrafts using indigenous

materials like pandan and

sabutan. In partnership with

Gawad Kalinga, the business

employs out-of-school

youth in Negros Occidental,

and helps build communities

in the area using profits from

the sale of its products.

THE

GIFTS

1 Tomato-shaped
stuffed toy, P175,
Plush & Play

2 Cocktail napkins,
P650 for a set of
six; coasters, P480
for a set of eight;
drinking glass
huggers, P480
for a set of six; all
from Milvidas

3 Natural body

butters in

berry bliss and

vanilla peach,

P299.75 each,

Human Nature

4 “Fleur de Sel”

ceramic container,

P490; “Huile

d’Olive” ceramic

jar, P930; “Olivie”

hand-painted table

runner, P1,350; all

from Domesticity