Category: Stories

Transform is back with some tweaks for the new normal. After an unprecedented year filled with challenges and constant change, we are pleased to bring back our core program that helps the ultra-poor improve every area of their lives. Over the next few weeks, our staff members are starting to run socially-distanced lessons in communities...

Here in ICM, we have found that one of the best ways to promote economic growth among the poor is to empower women for greater productivity. In fact, 88% of our Transform participants are women. So it’s no coincidence that most of the stories that we have featured in our newsletters and social media are...

Few things give more hope in a season of great need than a thriving vegetable garden. As the pandemic drags on, ICM has committed to persevering, to not grow weary of doing good. To help communities have food security during the pandemic, ICM staff has been packing and distributing seeds so people can grow vegetable...

Angel, ICM’s Family Academy coordinator in Dumaguete, first heard of ICM when the staff came into their community — Bayawan, Dumaguete — to conduct the Transform Program in 2015. “My father is a pastor and when we found out about ICM’s mission and vision, I was so happy to join Transform as a counselor,” she...

Padayon! Is the rallying cry of ICM through this pandemic. It is a Visayan word often used as an encouragement to keep on going, especially whenever times get tough. Pre-COVID, Pastor Jessie’s church in Banago, Bacolod City had 60-70 people at Sunday services, not including kids. In his 16 years as a pastor, Pastor Jessie lived...

In the time of COVID-19, have you ever gotten to a point when it seems all hope is lost? Even the best of us get discouraged, especially during the pandemic, when everything is so uncertain! “I always have trouble finding food,” Pastor David told us. “Sometimes I feel hopeless.” Pastor David is one of our...

Watch our CEO David Sutherland interviewed by Michelle Ong on ABS-CBN News Channel‘s Market Edge.  David talked about the effects of the pandemic on the people living in ultra-poverty and how ICM is helping them get through these tough times.  David brought up the Sentinel program. Our “sentinels” are hundreds of partner pastors, community leaders,...

In the era of contact lenses and eye surgeries, eye problems may seem like a thing of the past, but for those living in ultra-poverty, vision issues can be an insurmountable challenge. Loreto, a 51-year-old farmer in Dipolog, is the primary breadwinner for his family. He works hard to not only provide for his family’s...

  We often say that a savings group can act as a safety net for when its ultra-poor members are facing emergencies. Janice in Dipolog lived this out when she and her family found themselves living in a pigpen. When Janice first joined Transform in 2017, she wasn’t so sure about the livelihood lessons. Wives...

When Elizabeth and Mary Ann, both residents in Mindanao, joined Transform, back in February, they had no idea how much help it would be during this difficult year, even though the program was forced to stop halfway through because of the pandemic.   Elizabeth has a large family with thirteen children, their spouses, and eight...