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Help in several forms
The success of Fashionata, a fashion show and dance show for the benefit of children with cancer is proof that when there's a need, there are always venues for help.
Holding a fashion show is a huge task that require one's full effort and the production expenses are really huge, too. But this is one show that we at KKK (Mga Kaibigan ng mga Kabataang may Kanser) believe we had to do in order to raise more funds to fund the chemotherapy of children with cancer coming from very poor families in Iloilo province.
Paying for chemotheraphy of the kids is not a one-shot deal. We are talking about several treatments that could even take years, so we had to continually think of ways to make sure there are always fund-raising projects.
The outpouring of help for the show's success was so overwhelming. Designers from three top designers groups in Iloilo City, numerous models, the dancers, singers, program hosts and makeup artists, volunteered their talents for free; they worked with us night and day until the show came. Companies sponsored through their resources, too. And there were donors, too. They expected nothing in return but only offered their God-given gifts to extend help to the kids with cancer – Allen Joy Galvez, Eden Mar Miranda, Russel Buizon, Acel Cartagena and John Philip Java. Thankfully, one of our recipients, Regen Faith Bonillo is well now.
Isabel's asthma can be a problem for her but this has paved the way for tribal communities in far-flung villages to learn how to read and write. Because of her asthma, Isabel would always go to the farm to experience fresh air. It is through these trips that she found farmers who wanted her to teach them about literacy. It was through this experience that led Isabel to want to reach out to more people. Now, she leads Kayang-Kayang Mission International, a group of Ilonggo volunteers as they extend help not only in the country but in other countries as well.In fact, they are going to Africa for a mission.
These stories reiterate that fact that when there's a need, there will always be help.
It is also along this line that I realized all of us need help, whether we are aware of it or not. Most of the time, the realization comes when the "task of shaping us" has culminated.
The parents of children with cancer had increased their faith in God after outpouring of support came even from people that they least expect would help. A spoiled brat who needed help to be more responsible, finally grew up when he lost his parents at a young age; so now he or she has learned to give and not just take. A woman whose husband left her, was given an opportunity to learn to love herself first and explore the talents God has given her, which she has failed to give attention to in the past; now, she's enjoying the new world that has opened before her. A computer geek I know may have felt distraught for the folding up of his parents' car shop business, but this has actually saved him from a lifetime of doing things he does not love; this has paved the way for him to venture into what one really loves to do, computers. See, how help comes in unexpected and unwanted circumstances.
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Find a need and fill it. ~Ruth Stafford Peale
(Peace. Send your comments to katvillalon@yahoo.com)