By Ethan Benedicto
The Andres Pancha Anchor Community officially launched over the weekend, with an attendance of over 40 people, it was the first major step towards the not-for-profit’s goal of supporting those impacted by crime.
Held on Saturday 30 November, the celebration took place in conjunction with Andres Pancha’s birthday, father of three and late husband of Divine Pancha, who headed the day with speeches and a combination of the organisation’s wayfinder workshops.
With mass running from 11am to 12pm, the period from 1pm to 3pm saw guests take part in activities from painting, slime-making, clay making, cutout poetry and more.
However, these activities weren’t limited to the children, with their parents and other adults also taking part.
To Divine, seeing everything come together like it did from a simple welfare check was more than amazing.
“I will always start with gratitude, and this is people’s work, we are all part of this web of life,” she said.
“But I am also so glad that it is officially a charity so people have the opportunity to give, and that donation is also what will nourish them.
“That money will be used for resources to run the programs that we will be providing to them, the children, their parents and their grandparents, it’s all a circle.
“This is not a single-direction sort of relationship, it’s both ways, it’s symbiotic.”
Becoming an official charity on 29 November, donations for APAC are up and open, with, as Divine mentioned, monetary investments going towards broadening not just their work such as the wayfinder workshops, but also their reach.
The remainder of the organisation’s body, which included social communications manager Elizabeth Sabelino, co-director Katalina Vergara and treasurer Charlene Deldio not only supervised the event but like the others, also took part in the activities.
Katalina said that seeing everyone’s effort pay off was gratifying, especially when it was for a cause that has greatly impacted not just the Pancha family, but also their local community.
However, while Katalina said that she would have liked to say she was “relieved” at such a big turnout, she “kind of expected it to go like this”.
“I just knew the community would be so supportive, but I hope it gets bigger and this makes me feel hopeful.
“Our team is looking to have a meeting early in 2025, but now that we’ve got the ball rolling, we can start looking at fundraisers and getting the word out there in order to make our community bigger,” she said.
Like Divine, she holds a vision of APAC being able to support more people, and that support from outside close friends, family and local communities isn’t that far away.
“We’ve seen it before when the incident was still fresh we saw it, and it would be nice to see that again to know that they [people] weren’t just there at the peak of the tragedy,” Katalina said.
For Elizabeth, she said that it was “crazy” to see everything bloom from just an idea “coming to life”.
“Auntie Divine told us that she sort of just wanted to do some underground work, but here we are today, actually running as a charity on Uncle Andres’ birthday,” she said.
For treasurer Charlene, it was “amazing seeing everyone coming together”, with emphasis on everyone’s engagement with the activities, but also their love for Divine and the rest of the Pancha family.
“It’s great to honour Uncle Andres this way, and we hope to make him proud,” she said.
As for 2025, it’s gearing up to be a busy yet fulfilling year for APAC and with the tempo set, a lot more motions are in the works.
For more information on APAC, visit apacommunitygroup.carrd.co
