The Founder

Merci Melchor

Artist. Educator. Advocate. Visionary. Our Super Amazing Momcie.

Merci Melchor was a woman of rare courage, vision, and heart. A gifted artist and scholar, she earned her Master of Science in Mathematics and Education from Cornell University and was a proud member of the Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society. Though she possessed remarkable artistic talent — having won a national award in her teens for her cover design for the U.S. Red Cross Magazine — she was not permitted by her father, Col. Alejandro Melchor Sr., to pursue a degree in Fine Arts. Her father, who helped establish the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) and the University of the Philippines College of Engineering. insisted on a more “practical” academic path. The Melchor Halls in PMA and UP— stand as a tribute to his legacy.

Denied formal Fine Arts studies, Merci pursued art through mastery. She trained under Philippine National Artists Vicente Manansala, Jose Joya, Ibarra dela Rosa, and Manuel Rodriguez Sr., and became a devoted member of the Saturday Group of Artists beginning in the early 1970s. Her works were exhibited widely, and her artistry — shaped by both discipline and intuition — reflects her rare balance of left- and right-brain brilliance.

She co-authored and fully illustrated the I Can Read Series: A Sound Foundation Approach for Beginning Readers, published by Bookmark. The series, composed of five books and over 500 original illustrations, has sold several hundred thousand copies and continues to support early literacy across schools and homes. Her illustrations brought phonics and storytelling to life, capturing the imagination of children across generations.

Her artistry met purpose again when she authored Bandila: The Story of the Philippine Flag — for children, a tribute to Filipino heritage for the nation’s Centennial Celebration.

But it was when her own daughter Rayla experienced abuse that Merci’s true legacy began to take root. Refusing silence, she turned pain into purpose — launching the Merci Melchor Brochures for Battered Women, a pioneering series on abuse, narcissism, and family violence prevention in 2004. These brochures have since been translated into several languages and shared with women’s groups around the world. Her work was featured by Bantay Bata, ANC, and adopted by socio-civic organizations championing women’s rights worldwide.

Merci was especially inspired by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and the “Double Dividend” of empowering women and children. She hand-drew the Nine Pertinent Rights of the Child, led school-based art workshops, and which her daughter presented to UNICEF HQ New York, UNICEF UK, the UN Global Compact Office, the UN Human Rights Council (Geneva), and schools across Asia, North America, Europe, Africa and Australia.

Merci not only envisioned the I AM S.A.M. Protocol, she provided the very materials that shaped its foundation — even introducing Rayla to Patricia Evans, acclaimed author of The Verbally Abusive Relationship, whom Rayla met in San Francisco. It took time before Rayla found the strength to get involved, but Merci was patient. She knew the day would come — that the I AM S.A.M. Foundation would become a space of healing for her daughter, and in time, for thousands more. Merci believed deeply in the power of the wounded healer: one who understands from lived experience, and who fights with empathy for women and children who have no resources, defense, and recourse.

One of Merci’s most enduring contributions was the creation of the affirmation: “I Am Special, Unique and Precious.” It became the mantra of the I AM S.A.M. Foundation and was printed on horizontal banners placed above blackboards in classrooms of school districts that partnered with the foundation. It was also featured on I AM S.A.M. Mentor banners and even made into wrist ballers — worn by both children and adults as a constant reminder of their natural entitlements as human beings. As Merci taught: “I am Special, Unique and Precious — simply because I was born into this world.”

This profound realization — what she called an “aha moment” — pointed to nothing less than the Brotherhood of Nations: that we are one, regardless of gender, race, religion, or background.

Eventually, this mantra evolved into a poem encapsulating the four pillars of the I AM S.A.M. Protocol: the Humanity of Children, the Rights and Entitlements of Children, Abuse, and Self-Worth as a Tool for Self-Mastery and One’s Future.

In the words of Ella Torrey, personal assistant to Eleanor Roosevelt, principal author of the UDHR:

“The I AM S.A.M. Protocol is at once, personal, as it is universal.”

Merci’s belief — that every child is Special, Unique, and Precious — lives on in the Museo Pambata book Letters from Lolo and Lola, where she lovingly wrote to her grandson, Buffy. That phrase became the heartbeat of the I AM S.A.M. Foundation.

“Nothing justifies the abuse of women, mothers, and children. It must stop!” — Merci Melchor

Merci’s light lives on — through her art, her stories, her advocacy, and the two legacies now carried forward by her daughter Rayla: the I AM S.A.M. Foundation and the I Can Read Series. She will forever be our Super Amazing Momcie.

“She didn’t just raise me — she raised a generation of women and children to find their voice, read with confidence, and know their worth.”
— Rayla Allertsen