“The essence of giving to the less fortunate is the most unforgetable experience we had in our charity mission in the Philippines; to see the smiles of the children, and to feel the tight hugs of the recipients would give you too much satisfactions, more than thanks we received,” Myra Rosario said, 1st. vice-president, Association of Ilocanos in Manitoba (AIM).
Myra Rosario, together with her husband, Mario Rosario, immediate president of AIM; AIM president Romy Ominga and his wife, Chie, asst. auditor; Danny and Remy Amoyo, 2nd vice president and treasurer respectively; and Jun and Vivian David, owners/proprietors of Juvian Restaurant in Notre Dame and McPhilips Station Casino, arrived after a three-week charity mission in the Philippines.
The four couples who left for the Philippines to distribute goods and donate money to the town Santo Tomas, Batangas; Baler, Aurora; and in the Ilocos Region. at the height of frigid winter last January, being the 5th year of AIM’s charitable mission. The Omingas, the Rosarios and the Davids experienced first face to face encounter with our less fortunate kababayans. The Amoyos had been in this mission for many times.
Myra Rosario added: “Our newly-found friends told us that we are the only group who gave so much without asking any favours.”
“We are blessed in this adopted country and we have to share with our kababayans the blessing what we are receiving, and that was we had done when we went to the Philppines,” Chie Ominga said.
“Jun and I had been moved to tears when we encountered those who received our gifts and money, and being our first time to engage with those less fortunate, we thought of how lucky we are in Canada, and that most of the time, we do not appreciate what we have in Winnipeg, and we did not realize that there thousands of people who need help. And we will do this again,” Vivian David said, as her husband, Jun David, smiled with great satisfaction that both of them volunteered their time and money to AIM’s mission to the Philippines.
“We are encouraging other officers and members of AIM to go with us, to experience, first hand, how beautiful the smiles of the children, how tight the hugs of our kababayans,” Myra added. ” And also, we have to thank our sponsors for their donations.”
AIM raised Ph400,000 in cash and many boxes of goods shipped to the Philippines; and during their missions, extra money was needed. “When the people saw that Mario had money, they ran after him and asked for more, and sometimes our group members would give Ph2,000, sometimes Ph500,” Myra said. Pure Gold Supermarket handled the individual packaging of their donations. This is AIM’s 5th charitable mission in the Philippines.
AIM officers and members will go further to engage in the charitable missions in the Philippines, so, they have started gathering toys, goods and last April 5, 2014 fund raising event, AIM was able to raise $7,000 which will be used to build a chapel in Santo Tomas, Batangas.
Association of Ilocanos in Manitoba (AIM) has aimed higher to share what we have, the blessings we receive in Winnipeg.
Photos by Jun David, one of the members of Winnipeg couples who did charitable mission in the Philippines.
