Its impact is great reflected in the lives of graduates

Asian Relief, Inc. has changed the lives of so many poor children here in the Philippines and I am one of them. Will forever be grateful to our donors and benefactors who continuously help the programs of Asian Relief until now. We always remember you in our prayers.

I receive LOTS of solicitation mails every month and with bills to pay, I can’t help them all. As a donor, I choose organizations close to my heart and The Sisters of Mary is one of them. I’ve seen firsthand how this religious organization operates and it IS worth every penny. The school provides students with world-class education and technical skills which make them employable right after graduation. And oh, the character! The sisters help these kids build character which is seriously lacking, if not missing in today’s society. With our donation, we enable these kids to be better individuals, to be contributors to their society and not dependents nor delinquents. Can you imagine helping ONE child at a time? Can you imagine how many people that ONE child will be able to help in the future? There is no help too little. Great things start from small beginnings, just like the Parable of the Mustard Seed.

We are already more than 60,000 who have graduated in the Boystowns and Girlstowns in the Philippines supported by Asian Relief, Inc. and we are very grateful to all the donors of Asian Relief. Without their financial support, we would not be successful in our lives.

The technical skills I've learned at the Sisters of Mary Boystown supported by Asian Relief have helped me find a good job as an electrician, a plumber and a maintenance man of one of the big companies in Vancouver, even if I did not pursue my higher education I am earning more than a college graduate. I am thankful for the support of the donors. I could now stand on my own, support my family and had sent my siblings to school.

My father was a fisherman and my mother a fish vendor. We lived in a squatter area near the sea but most of the times, my father could not catch enough fish to sell to support our family. When I finished Grade 6, my parents could not send me to high school but fortunately I was accepted by one of the villages run by Sisters supported by Asian Relief. I studied so hard and graduated with honors and got a scholarship in the university and now I am a medical doctor, gainfully employed, self-reliant and at the same time helping those in need through my profession. Without the help of Asian Relief, I would not be what I am now. I am very grateful to all the donors of Asian Relief/World Villages for Children.

If my 87 year old father could write via email, perhaps he would. He frequently gets mail from Sr. Michaela and feels badly when he can't contribute. He also gets annoyed at the frequency of the demands. He has tried to enclose notes asking for his name to be dropped because he is going broke (my mother is ill and in a nursing home), but they go unheaded. Another letter will arrive, stuffed with another "worry doll". I am a religious myself whose community also serves children all over the world, including the Philippines (in fact, we were there 5 years before Fr. Al). But my community is poor and doesn't have the resources to hire lay executives and fundraisers, let alone send out stamps and coins. I wish I could tell Sister Michaela that those doing the fund raising for this project are off the mark. I feel angry when I see letters from other organizations coming through the mail even with dollar bills! I think, if they send that to 10,000 people, that's $10,000! Religious communities like mine could never afford such a venture and I do believe it is a turn-off to donors and never more than now when so many people are hurting economically, out of work and so on. I couldn't blame them for taking and using the money and the stamps. My own mother never believed in such things and she would deposit the money in a container on the kitichen window ledge to be given to the local poor through the parish.