LCP James C. Fielding
I came across the touching stories of Sally and Jessa. Their accounts were common as anybody’s.
Sally was gainfully employed in a prestigious company. While she was working, she got sick at the same time the country was raged by the Covid 19 virus. She was then in and out of the hospital and the little savings that they had were expended for medical bills. With her repeated sick leaves, she was forced to resign last May 2021 and stayed home with her two children aged 3 and 6 years old. Meanwhile, her husband’s main income was by helping out in a lechon manok outlet.
Jessa, a solo parent to a 3-year girl, has a bubbly personality and having a positive disposition did not lose hope when she was displaced as a crew from a cruise ship where they were forced to disembark due to low passenger turnout. As of this writing, she is still unable to report back to work. She is currently staying with her parents with a father who is undergoing dialysis.
With these sorry stories, I did wonder how Rotary can help their street food business along the road with only a table, a gas stove, and a plastic container for the juice. Prayers answered, the Association of Centennial Presidents (ACT) where I am also a charter president had these accumulated funds to share with those who were displaced by the pandemic. I brought the plight of Sally and Jessa to the attention of my classmates and the members readily approved and allocated funds to buy cooking implements for Sally and Jessa’s small business.
My club, RC Pasay Millenium also infused grocery items like rice, eggs, veggies, and other ingredients to start up their breakfast feast, lugaw, hotdogs, pancakes, siopao, and the like. Soon, a small capital infusion might be handed over as soon as they are established with what kind of food they are going to cater.
Sally and Jessa are the best examples of people who dare to face the uncertainties of life and never give up hope.
Alone we can do so little, together we can do so much.