The Faceless Angels of Charity and their Big Heart
Posted on Sunday, 12 February 2017
The Faceless
Angels of Charity
And Their Big
Heart
By Apolinario Villalobos
These faceless angels of charity are
friends and strangers who, without hesitance extended their hand to others, and
whose stories they learned through my blogs. Despite my disclaimer that my
blogs about the needy are not meant to solicit but just to inform and share my
encounters, thereby, encourage others to do the same, some still try their best
to find ways and made alibis about their reason for helping.
A donor who lives in London sent her
hard-earned savings and insisted that I accept it for the sake of our being
town mates. One said it’s her first time to “really” share while another said
that he got no time to go out and actually do the sharing, so he asked a favor
that I do it for him. A single mom consistently shares whatever she could
afford, although I know that she is also doing her own kind of random sharing.
A businesswoman, a good friend, gives me an envelope every time we meet.
Two widows from America send either cash or
balikbayan boxes, although, I asked one of them to stop sending her donations
until I found an established institution to which she could directly send her
boxes. A just-widowed friend sent the belongings of her late husband such as
shirts, shoes, health supplements, etc. The shoes went to the students who
deserve them, and for me to find out, I had to standby at Recto to make the
right choice. The rest of the things went to the beneficiaries in Baseco
(Tondo).
A Chinese student, who sought my help for
his thesis via the internet, and son of a businessman, regularly shared his
allowance for my projects, until I introduced him to the student to whom his money
went. I lost contact with the Chinese student who I learned is now in mainland
China and the poor student who graduated last year is now working in a BPO
(call center). A former prostitute in Avenida who benefited from the shares of
my friends has put up a small stall for pre-used clothing and silver jewelry,
and has become a regular donor of tarpaulin sheets used as roof for makeshift
huts and pushcarts.
A newly-ordained priest from Bulacan
regularly meets with me to hand over an envelope. The envelope contains saved
extra amount after his purchase of personal necessities for which the money that
comes from his parents is intended. He does not want to keep the money due to
his vows so he opted to share them with the needy after reading my blog about
the pushcarts and the children in Divisoria who collected re-salable
vegetables, though “reject” vegetables at dawn.
Four friends in PAL also send their shares
through the local remittance outlets. They told me that although they do not
make comments or “like” my blogs, they regularly follow them, especially, those
that are about sharing. One of them expressed his desire to be part of our
small of group of four, soonest as he has retired.
Stories of friends and strangers who have
become part of my effort could fill pages….stories that I consider my priceless
treasure for they have become my strength and inspiration to go on. These are
stories that prove the assurance that, God will provide at the right moment for
the right cause. These are stories that give me great relief as I have to admit
that I could have been helpless without them due to my meager irregular income
from home-based editorial job. These are stories of faceless angels and their
big heart!
Discussion