Short Summary

Hello I'm Sanny Abrajano and I would like to thank you for supporting our campaign in Indiegogo. I am a finance professional crunching numbers for more than 12 years now. Sounds heavy, right? I am based here in Manila and now have a family of my own with two daughters. My wife and I also have a small home-based business which we've been doing for the past three years. My parents along with my three other siblings however are in the province of Eastern Samar particularly in the town of Guiuan. 

If you can remember, our province was devastated more than 3 years ago by Typhoon Haiyan,  one of the strongest tropical cyclones ever recorded in history leaving many of those who survived homeless and with no livelihood. My family was one of those blessed to survive the onslaught of the typhoon except for four of my relatives who perished. Right now, people's lives were slowly coming back to normal and with the various aids coming from local and international organizations (thank you very much!), I can say that our town is now recovering. However, many of those who were involved in the famous crafts of our province like mat weaving, shell craft, coconut wine making which we call "Tuba" and a few bamboo furniture makers were badly affected and have not resumed with their livelihood yet because their tools were lost in the typhoon and many resorted to other ways of earning a living. 

It is for this cause that we created this campaign in Indiegogo. My wife and I along with some friends have decided to spend our Christmas differently this year. That is - to support the livelihood of the people in our province. To promote the best products that our townspeople produce. We want the people to continue the craft we are known for, to preserve the tradition and heritage and provide them the means to create other products and market their produce to the world. 

What We Need & What You Get

We are initially raising $30,000 (the details of which you can see below) but we don't stop here because we want this cause to reach other towns as well and you can help us by purchasing one or more of the exciting perks available for this campaign!

The Impact

Your support can go a long way in providing a stable livelihood for the people in our province. The funds generated from this campaign will be used as follows:

• Support the production of more products and new product concepts ($5,000)
• Establish store outlets that will carry the best products of our province ($15,000)
  
• Create an eCommerce website dedicated to showcasing and selling the handcrafted products online ($1,000)
• Sponsor a gift in our gift-giving program for the children of families located in the  coastal areas of Eastern Samar ($2,000)
• Establish a Center for Craft with the latest tools like electric grinders, etc. needed to refine the handicrafts ($10,000)
• Conduct roadshows to further promote and encourage other townspeople to practice the craft ($2,000)

Risks & Challenges

In case we don't reach our funding goal, whatever money raised will still be used in the gift-giving program and in creating an eCommerce website so that our townspeople will already have an online platform to sell their products to the world. 

To mitigate this risk, we will also be doing a local offline campaign of selling the products to our network of friends and acquaintances.

Other Ways You Can Help

In case you are facing financial challenges this time, don't worry you can still contribute to this campaign by forwarding this campaign to your family and friends or sharing this campaign on your Facebook Wall or Twitter with these hashtags:

#shellcraftLOVE

#banigLOVE

#boostthecraft

#samarheritage

#waraynon

The People Behind