Helping hands

It was time for my family and me to wear yellow “Helping Hands” vests and join more than 150 others in cleaning Colon Street on April 6.

Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints wear this vest every time they volunteer to participate in a service project. On this particular day, a holiday, our family didn’t want to miss the chance to help out and break sweat.

The volunteers came from six wards that belong to the Cebu Central Philippines Stake. A ward is comparable to a parish and a stake is the size of an archdiocese.

With Benjamin Montera, Sr., Jerome Posadas and Rabbi Rabanes, our stake presidency, directing the activity, we started cleaning from the marker in Parian to the historic Tres de Abril Bridge.

We brought our own brooms and trashcan liners. After getting instructions from the stake presidency, we plunged into action. My wife and I were in the same group but my son Jason and daughter Kiyo found their friends and teamed up with them. Because we have the numbers, we were able to clean both sides of Colon. We were relentless. Nothing stood in our way.

I had the chance to pause after we’ve passed Metro Gaisano and couldn’t help notice that we had such a diverse group. The youngest was about 9 years old and the oldest was 75. Last year, the same group swept the ground and painted the grills and concrete seats inside the Fuente Osmeña Circle. The day after the election in 2007, the youth (ages 12-17) from the same stake cleaned up Cebu Central Elementary School – one of the busiest polling places in the city.

This group is always ready and willing to serve without any remuneration. For them it is an honor to serve and have fun doing it.

After the group had converged at the historic Tres de Abril Bridge, we were talking about signing an MOA with the city government to adopt and maintain all the historical markers along Colon Street. We also agreed to show up on May 1 so we could help in painting the gutters, again from Parian to Tres de Abril Bridge.

Can’t wait for such an opportunity to help again.

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Special thanks to Julie Gandionco, Kris Gandionco and Baby Arcillas of Julie’s Bakeshop. They made sure that there would be bread for volunteers during that clean up activity in Colon.

When we came to a Julie’s Bakeshop branch in the corner of R. Landon and Pelaez Streets the morning of April 6 to get the bread, it was ready. Not only that, she also made sure that each piece of bread was put in small sandwich bag. We truly appreciate such an extra mile of service.

The afternoon of the next day, a big fire hit the area where that Julie’s Bakeshop branch is located. The fire gutted more than P12.5M worth of property. Guess what? After the smoke has cleared, one establishment was untouched by the fire! It was the Julie’s Bakeshop outlet that “fed” the volunteers wearing yellow “Helping Hands” vests the day before.

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