- April 28, 2024
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Project Flagler, sponsored by the Flagler County Rotary Club and administered by the Rotary Club of Plaridel, in the Philippines, has dispensed 200 microloans to Filipinos, battling poverty one small business at a time.
Veronica Maggs is the director of Flagler Schools’ Make It, Take It program — an effort which puts technology into the hands of at-risk youth — but she admits she has never been too much into charity.
That was until 2005, when she met Josie Garcia of the Joy and Care Giving Foundation, who runs and funds a school in her hometown, in the Philippines. Garcia introduced Maggs to Flipino life, and since, Maggs has been to the Philippines three times, taught Filipino children about computers and founded Project Flagler, a group that issues microloans of anywhere from $30 to $500 to needy individuals, usually for business-startup equipment such as sewing machines, roadside stands, chickens or a plot of land for gardening.
“When you take one person out of poverty, it usually takes three or four people out with them,” Maggs said.
Conducted through a partnership between the Flagler County Rotary Club and the Rotary Club of Plaridel (Philippines), the project was established in 2007. By July 1, the end of the Rotary’s 2011 calendar year, Maggs estimates that it will have dispensed about 200 interest-free microloans totaling $30,000 to Filipinos, including some for “self-sustaining” healthcare stations.
“Healthcare is almost nonexistent for these poor people,” Maggs said. Loans have helped in organizing basic testing/procedure training, allowing residents to earn a living while also providing a necessary service.
Some of the $30,000 went toward fresh-water programs and orphanages, as well, Maggs said. The Roatary also collects and donates eyeglasses, toothbrushes, used medical equipment and unopened soaps and shampoos.
Maggs, who is the Rotary Foundation chair and also Flagler School’s Project Flagler Rotary representative, said the school district has been “incredibly supportive” of the project, donating textbooks, computers and footballs to the cause.
“Flagler County Schools likes to think of itself as a world-class school system,” Maggs said. “In order to be world-class, you have to participate globally.”
Last year, Project Flagler was chosen as one of 100 worldwide nonprofits recognized by a Canadian charity foundation called House of Friendship.
“This has been proven to be the most effective way to get people out of poverty,” Maggs said of the microloan structure, explaining that a team of Rotarians monitors lendees, collecting pennies of their profits every couple of days for repayment, which teaches business sense.
To get involved in the program, contact Maggs at 338-2861.
About the size of Florida, the Philippines has a population of about 93 million, as opposed to the Sunshine State’s 13 million. It’s packed and poor, Maggs said. People have to wear masks in the street.
But in a lot of ways, to Maggs, it’s also the most beautiful place in the world.
“(Filipinos) are the happiest, most generous people on earth,” Maggs said. “They have so little, and they share so much … They celebrate life.”
Contact Mike Cavaliere at [email protected].
