Choosing a charity

Like all start-ups, we have faced a lot of challenges before getting things off the ground. Kandila Co has always been on my mind for years before I even had the business name registered, as it has taken many months to find the right designer, source quality materials and find reliable suppliers. Nevertheless, choosing the very first charity to support has been easy.

My husband and I were born and raised in the Philippines. We came to Australia in 2005 and emigrated here soon after. We've always wanted to help our less fortunate countrymen in some way when I’ve encountered the Australian Foundation for Fostering Learning in the Philippines one evening in 2015. We wanted to help AFFLIP not only because the Philippines is very close to our hearts but also because of the extent of work that they do for schools in some of the poorest provinces in the country. Unlike many charities, AFFLIP is a voluntary, not-for-profit foundation, which is important to us as we want a greater percentage of our contributions to go directly to those in need.

Having a charity in mind really pushed us to face all of the obstacles we encountered. It hasn’t been easy and I know that we will continue to encounter drawbacks. I’m just glad that with your help, we’re a little closer to making a difference in the lives of kids who are unable to obtain basic education due to their circumstances.