TO be a member of JCI (Junior Chamber International) Zugbuana is, for May Joan Abellana, a means of helping others. For the longest time, JCI was a male-only organization in Cebu but that changed in 1991 when the group was formed with Ann K. Hofer—currently a congresswoman representing the second district, Zamboanga Sibugay—as founding president.
May Joan joined Zugbuana in 2014 but she was already familiar with the way the group works as, during her college days studying economics at the University of San Carlos, she had decided to join the Junior Jaycees to broaden her exposure.
“It was there,” she said, “where I learned social skills, interaction, public speaking and hosting and making projects for the community.”
After college, she worked, got married, bore two children and took care of them, which kept her from joining Zugbuana. In 2014 when her children did not need as close a supervision as when they were toddlers, she joined Zugbuana for, as she said, “Once bitten by the JCI bug, you always look for it, always look for what you can give back to society.”
To become a member of the club, May Joan said one had to have a project and hers was “Dress Your Own Doll” using fabrics from Anthill; proceeds of this went to the Vicente Sotto pediatric ward to provide it with pediatric beds. During the turnover ceremony, the Zugbuanas told stories to the children and fed them. Currently, the group has adopted a school in Sapangdaku, a mountain barangay, to which they have donated 110 armchairs and will be donating five computers and printers.
The group has a “Grant a Wish” project for a child; the last was in 2016 for a heart surgery and this year it is for a three-year-old who needs to have an artificial eye. To fund the operation, the Zugbuanas had a rummage sale and a bingo night at Sugbo Mercado so they could support not only the operation but also the medical aftercare needs of the child. The donations for this operation will be formally turned over on Aug. 5 at Oakridge Business Park.
Zugbuana’s other projects include welding-metalwork (specifically welding parts) training for unemployed persons between 18 and 50 years old who were then helped to gain employment, after successfully undergoing training. The group also had a barista training, for out-of-school youth, to train them in the making of coffee, after which the trainees were helped to gain barista jobs in hotels and coffee shops.
Coming up on Sept. 8 is a day-long seminar for female teens ages 13 to 19. The “She-Connect Teen Forum, Young and Free,” will have as resource persons Ivy Flor Ceballos Llenes, Bb. Pilipinas 2010 Venus Raj, JCI Manila motivational speaker Lec Toribio and Phoebe Fernandez. The seminar will touch on topics like depression, anxiety and personal empowerment. It aims to help female teens to deal with peer pressure, overcome self-defeating beliefs and become self-motivated, and experience power from living their true identity. Eventually, May Joan said, “We might have a seminar on He-Connect and even LGBT-Connect. I’m sure we actually are creating positive change to the next generation.”
She added: “In the next five years, my vision is strength in sisterhood. For us to be able to do great contributions to the community, we have to start with ourselves; our relationship among Zugbuana sisters. If you empower your members, they get to influence others to join the organization. Tagline for this year is ‘Inspire to Influence and Impact’—basically to be a good role model in order to positively influence and impact the community. As president I make sure that the growth should be experienced by both the inside and the outside.”
May Joan Manticajon Abellana is the youngest of six siblings and is married to Vee Charaxis Abellana with whom she has two children, aged 8 and 16. She has worked for the past 10 years as unit manager for a British firm, PRU-Life UK. JCI, she says, “Is a leadership training organization.” And indeed, JCI Zugbuana May Joan Abellana has proven herself to be a well-trained leader helping the community.