IWCPI, at the forefront of friendship, service to humanity

WITH the 2015- 2016 theme of “Unique and United,” the Inner Wheel Clubs of the Philippines, Inc. ( IWCPI) holds its 50th ( Golden) National Conference at the Manila Hotel on February 19- 20, 2016, to be keynoted by International Inner Wheel ( IIW) President Charlottee de Vos who will share news from other Inner Wheel Clubs all over the world.

The IWCPI conference is an annual gathering of over 500 Inner Wheel ladies – usually wives, widows, or kin of a Rotarian’s household – from nine districts in Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao. IWCPI National President Cecille S. Ferrer and district chairpersons report on accomplishments, programs, and activities.

The IWCPI structure is a fourstep ladder with the clubs at first step, banded together geographically to form the district at second rung, which together with other districts, comprise the national governing body at the third, and with its affiliation with IIW as the last step.

IWCPI undertakes community projects that help uplift the lives of the poor, educate them on their rights, and make available development projects for the marginalized sector ( children, elderly, victims of calamities, women, and youth), through educational and information campaigns, counseling for abused women and children, scholarships, financial assistance, medical missions, day- care centers, entrepreneurship and livelihood skills training, and health seminars.

Inner Wheel projects are: Tubig sa Barrio ( water for rural areas) to bring potable water to remote barangays; Ako ay Pilipino (I am a Filipino), an essay- writing to foster nationalism among the youth; Operations Paglingap to assist victims of natural calamities; Operations Karunungan promoting informal learning in rural communities; and Tunay na Atin (Buy Philippines) to encourage appreciation for and consumption of locally made products.

IWCPI, with its motto “Selflessness in Friendship and Service to Humanity,” is a service organization founded by Ambassador Trinidad F. Legarda in March, 1949, to build camaraderie among the wives of Rotarians and to better support Rotary undertakings. In October, 1968, International Inner Wheel President Maureen Lavander Weightman visited the Philippines and presented the IIW charter papers to the first 15 clubs in the Philippines. In 1974, IWCPI acquired its own identity as a non- government organization. For 1983- 1984, socio- civic leader Esther A. Vibal was elected IIW president, the first Asian and Filipino to achieve the honor.

IWCPI objectives are: Foster camaraderie and develop the spirit of service, understanding, and mutual assistance among members; improve the cultural, social, economic, and spiritual conditions of the people and undertake activities that will help develop the sense of nationalism; promote international understanding and friendship; and cooperate with the Rotary.