The Crisis Intervention Center as a program of the shrine began by responding to the immediate needs of “walk-in clients” from the church goers. Most of them are individuals, family, and group who are in immediate and in dire needs such as:

 

• Abandoned, neglected, oppressed, disadvantaged, exploited and vulnerable individual/s, children, women and aged
• Women and children who are victims of violence
• Person with disability
• Mentally challenged person
• Victims of calamities and disaster
• Victims of snatching/hold-up and pick pocketing
• Indigent
• In immediate and in dire needs
• victims of snatching/hold-up/pick-pocketing and other petty crimes in the shrine

 

The immediate needs that they usually bring to the shrine are medical, hospitalization, food, transportation, temporary shelter, educational, funeral and the like. Based on these needs, the Center came up with the following assistance:

 

• Transportation Assistance
• Food and Clothing Assistance
• Funeral Assistance
• Financial Assistance
• Counseling
• Temporary Shelter
• Referrals

 

Recently, the shrine has connected more and more the direction of the center with the Justice and Peace program of the shrine. The shrine believes that poverty and justice are inseparable. The problems/needs and immediate concerns of individuals is rooted on the deeper problem of poverty in the country.

 

In confronting poverty, the center believes that change should start in every individual, family and community. Thus, the CIC programs has been linked to organizing and educating the people to address the real needs of the poor.

 

Funding for this center comes from the Box for the Poor situated all around the shrine and also from generous donations from the devotees.  Each month, the shrine report to the devotees how many people were helped by the center and what kind of assistance were given.