Trustees
Jane Bajamundi Oberman
Jane Bajamundi Oberman emigrated to the United States nearly
30 years ago and, ever since, has been determined to use her
good fortune to enrich and empower the communities in which
she was raised. Growing up in Albay, she, like millions of
others, struggled with the economic challenges confronting
so many ordinary Filipinos. She personally witnessed the
reality that generations of Filipinos are trapped in a
seemingly endless cycle of poverty, and for years grappled
with how best she could use her energy and resources to help
to solve this seemingly intractable problem.
Eventually, Jane realized that enabling families to escape
poverty meant giving the children of such families the one
opportunity that all too often eluded them:
The ability to pursue and complete a university education.
To that end, Jane and her husband, Jim, more than six years
ago established a foundation, primarily to fund university
scholarships – tuition, books and living expenses – for
needy and highly intelligent youths in the Philippines'
Bicol region. Ending the poverty cycle, it seemed to her,
meant giving the children of those families the opportunity
to pursue a university education.
To date, Jane and Jim have contributed about $1 million of
their own personal funds to their foundation and funded
scholarships for some 150 deserving Filipino students.
Their foundation has also supported a Catholic orphanage
in Sorsogon province and enabled a devout seminarian in
India to be ordained as a Catholic priest.
But Jane's efforts on behalf of the poor and afflicted are not
limited to monetary contributions. Twice monthly, she
collects breads, cakes and other foods that grocery chains
intend to discard, and distributes this food to agencies
such as St. Vincent de Paul that, in turn, provide this
food to the needy in Oakland, California. In addition,
she participates in a pastoral-care ministry that entertains
and supports patients living in convalescent homes.
Jane sets a shining example for all Filipinos living in the
United States to remember where they come from and to improve
the lot of those they've left behind. Her tremendous work
serves as an inspiration for Filipinos in the United States
and a source of great pride and hope for those in the Albay
and Sorsogon provinces in which she was raised.