I am M.A.D. (Making A Difference) is a three-day outreach program for youth volunteers engaging children (grades 4 to 6) to enable them to be passionate future Filipino citizens championing love for others, love of the environment, love of country, love of parents and love of God; to empower them to be catalysts of change as young as they are; and to embrace them to nurture their passion to make a difference by providing their basic educational needs as scholars.

To enable these children to be passionate Filipinos, the M.A.D. workshop is conducted on the 1st day of the outreach program which has several activities such as storytelling, team building activities, games and obstacle courses, all advocating the "10 M.A.D. Commitments", which are the following:

          1. I will pray and thank God every day.

          2. I will smile and greet people around me.

          3. I will eat nutritious food every meal

          4. I will share my food to those who doesn't have.

          5. I will throw my garbage in the trashcan.

          6. I will play with fairness and sportsmanship.

          7. I will return any lost and found items to the authority.

          8. I will study my lessons before going to bed.

          9. I will hug my parents and tell them how much I love them.

         10. I will start making a difference within myself today.

On the 2nd day of the outreach program, community activities are initiated together with other community people such as tree planting, clean-up drive, brigade eskwela and the like to empower them to be young nation-builders and instill in them their responsibility to the community.

To further nurture their values and assist them to finish their education and reach their dreams, we adopt and embrace them as scholars for a school year and provide basic educational needs such as school supplies in June as the classes starts, a gift during Christmas and a special token in March as they finish a school year. The volunteers look for sponsors for each child.

On the other hand, I am M.A.D. also capitalizes the youth volunteers as medium of inspiration and influence. Our volunteers is one of our claim-holders, too. Through the outreach program, we let them experience first-hand on how volunteerism magically works in making things possible through personally facilitating activities during the M.A.D. workshop with the kids and be part of the admin and logistical tasks in the program; explore their passion towards helping the lost, the last and the least, and immersing them with the community – their culture and way of life; and most importantly engaging them as part of a one big family of M.A.D. volunteers, investing in building fun and positive relationship among all the other volunteers through various solidarity activities. Yes, all of these happen in the three-day outreach program.

It was brought up during the Youth Mainstreaming Workshop by the United Nations Development Assistance Fund and National Youth Commission held last July 31, 2015, that one of the challenges about today’s youth in relation to participation is the lack of interest to local and national issues or what they call apathy, and being passive to these challenges. This is because of various factors such as being self-centered of today’s youth, no exposure to real life’s challenges, and love was not fostered at home or within their individual families. Thus, I am M.A.D. seeks to provide these experiences mainly to the children who are ages 10 to 12 because according to Piaget, he believed that one’s childhood plays a vital and active role in a person’s development as he/she gets old. Therefore instilling in them the most powerful thing in the world – love as young as they are. So that when they become future leaders of the Philippines, love for other people, the environment, the country and God is already implanted.

Moreover, it was the vision of the founders of I am Making A Difference to spread the passion of making a difference through giving hope and showing love to the children. Mark Conrad “Maco” R. Ravanzo, 26 (co-founder), was raised in Basilan Island with a public school teacher mother and a military father. He felt the incomplete love of his parents when his dad went missing for 26 years now because of a military assignment. Despite the love of his mother and other family relatives, the loss of his father made a great impact in his childhood. Also at a young age, he became a victim of civil war during the Lamitan siege of the Abu Sayaf in 2000, that created his strong drive to initiate activities for children, letting them experience love, peace and giving hope to those who needs it. This personal experience of the founder keeps us grounded with the objectives of the outreach program.

I am Making A Difference, Inc. is a SEC registered volunteer organization. It’s co-founded by 2013 PNVSCA’s Outstanding Volunteer of the Philippines Mark Conrad “Maco” R.Ravanzo and 2012 United Nations Outstanding Youth Leader Christian Marx P. Rivero.

It was in the year 2009 when Christian and Maco initiated the 1st ever outreach of I am Making A Difference, Inc. which was just supposed to be a way of paying it forward to their individual communities. It was first done in Basilan Island and the school supplies that was distributed came all over from Metro Manila from Christian who personally solicited in kind donations from his classmates and friends.

An anonymous author once said, “We give because we know the feeling of having nothing”, Christian, 26, one of the co-founders grew up in Sibuyan Island in Romblon which is a fifth class municipality. Coming from a poor family of a fisherman father and being a personal scholar of a Canadian priest, his deep motive to help the less fortunate resonates his thrive in his selfless life.

Before, it was just the two of them (Christian and Maco) who conducts the activities of I am M.A.D., now we have more than 200 volunteers all over the Philippines who are engaging themselves in the activities of the organization. We believe that one is not too small to make a difference, and if we will all together work as one, that small difference will create a bigger impact to the society we are living in.

We consider two beneficiaries in I am M.A.D.: the children who we call “M.A.D. scholars” and the volunteers. The M.A.D. scholars are the children who underwent the series of activities of the M.A.D. workshop during the 1st day and who will be the scholars for the rest of the school year receiving school supplies, Christmas gifts in December and a graduation gift in March. They will be having individual sponsors who will provide the materials/supplies for them. More than the material things, we enabled them to be responsible and genuine future leaders of their respective places. As scholars, they have initiated activities on their own such as tree planting with classmates, coastal clean-up with the Barangay leaders; have made cleaning materials for their school, and the like. Positive changes were noticed by the teachers and parents brought about by I am M.A.D. The scholars have become more participative in school activities and excel in class. When they reach home, they are more responsible now and most especially they have been affectionate with their parents which was a total opposite before. Their respective communities have started to work hand in hand with the scholars and their families towards positive change in the community. With this, the children are taking small steps in making a bigger difference in the country.

On the other hand, the youth volunteers also benefit from the project. While it seems that the volunteers are the ones who is giving their time and resources, it is through this experience that they gain priceless memories and life’s reflections and somehow be the hope and the future that Dr. Jose Rizal once envisioned. Joven Cayao from Palawan, a volunteer in I am M.A.D. Benguet said, “I’ve already experienced some volunteer works by conducting feeding programs and team-building activities in Palawan, but I can say that this past experience was different. It was tiring, yet fulfilling to see the smiles of the children. They made me appreciate more the importance of family and education, and realize that I am really blessed to have a complete and happy family. Moreover, this gave me the chance to share my knowledge, guide them to a brighter future and interact with passionate individual. I am very proud to be part of I am M.A.D., and I want to “make a difference” for the rest of my life.”

The process of I am M.A.D. starts when someone volunteers to be an “area coordinator” who will take charge in the on-the-ground preparations for the three-day outreach program. This includes identification of school beneficiary, coordinating with the local government unit or Barangay for permission and/or information of the presence of the volunteer organization and mobilizing local volunteers to help in the actual outreach program. With the raise of social media, most of the preparations are being done on Facebook. After all the coordination with local partners is set, I am Making A Difference now calls for volunteers through social media for those interested youth to participate. We mobilize these volunteers who confirmed to help us look for sponsors for the children of the area. They influence and inspire their friends to donate and sponsor one child for only P1,000.00. During the actual outreach program, we involve the Barangay leaders during the community activity and also invite the parents in one of the activities in the last day called, M.A.D. circle and during the closing program.

Doing I am M.A.D. would not be possible without the help of the school who provides the venue and the facility for our activities; the community leaders for their support and encouragement to parents to let their children participate; and the sponsors who generously gave donations for the school supplies and other gifts for the scholars. Moreover, the youth volunteers who plays the major role in putting up a successful three-day outreach program.