NOW I KNOW WHAT “ SERVICE ABOVE SELF” REALLY IS!
I thought my car wouldn’t make it to go thru the thick muddy road to the Dumpsite to deliver the hot macaroni sopas….
By : Rotractor Tricia Pulido Talaue
Charter Pres., Rotaract Club of Makati Nielsen
At 8:00 in the morning of Sunday , Sept. 27, 2009, my Mom SVP Emi Pulido, woke us up asking us to pack all our clothes which were just stocked up in our cabinets because we will donate to the adopted community of RC Makati Nielsen, the Vitas Tondo residents. They are the waste pickers who were not spared from the horrible flooding caused by typhoon Ondoy. It was a Sunday morning and normally, our morning routine is to go to church together for a time of worship. We immediately took out our used (but still nice )clothes. Our two brothers, Oliver (11 years old) and Tristan (16 years old) also checked on their cabinets and gave to Mommy their share of donations. Mommy was also very much occupied taking out personal belongings and piled up on top of her bed all that she wanted to donate . Then she moved to the other room and took out several pieces of blankets which she bought in Baguio a few years back. Those thick Baguio-made blankets, she said, were comforting enough and are of big sizes and are therefore very suitable for the calamity stricken area. In about thirty (30) minutes, we had four (4) ) boxes of stuffs to donate.
As we were rushing to bring down the boxes, via stairs because the elevator was not considerate enough on that moment, we saw that among those that Mommy put in the box was the comforter with this “bear design” that my sister Ate Jela ‘s boyfriend Arch Raymund , also a Rotaractor, gave to her as a gift. Upon seeing it, she exclaimed, “Oh Mommy, that blanket can’t go, coz it’s of sentimental value to me”. Earlier, while Mommy was about to put in the box the many girlie shirts that she took out from her cabinets, she also included two of my favorite, though not that expensive T-shirts which I also exclaimed “Mommy,! these are two my favorite shirts which I’ve been looking for, can I get these back, please?”. . Then the next funny thing that happened was that, when she checked on our boxes , she saw her black evening shirt which she said is also her favorite. Of course, she also got it back and put in her cabinet , not only that it is one of her favorites but the recipient may not use it.
The next thing we did was to go to the nearest grocery store and bought the ingredients for the Macaroni Sopas that we will cook to feed the 500 families that RCM Nielsen Director for International Service, Jane Walker advised was the number that we must feed as the most affected by the floods. Knowing that her friend and co-SVP Nick Pelaez of Cristo Rey has a complete set of cooking utensils “Caldero” as he is into catering businesss, she called him up and SVP Nick immediately agreed to support the activity. While we were still in the grocery, Mommy requested SVP Nick to start boiling the water in those big “calderos” so cooking won’t take long. So, when we arrived at SVP Nick’s place at the Green One in Mandaluyong, we saw the four (4) huge calderos waiting for the elbow macaroni to be boiled ,and Rotarian Glo Fuego and another Rotaractor of RC Cristo Rey already prepared the chopping boards and all knives to chop the veggies and the other ingredients . We converted the main hall of Green One as a cooking area . In two hours, we were able to cook eight huge calderos of delicious elbow macaroni sopas. All Rotarians and Rotaractors took part in preparing the food and thus made the hot sopas have the extra ingredient of love. The people of the St. Nicholas Catering did a great job in food preparation too.
How did we transport the 8 huge calderos of super hot sopas ? of course, there was SVP Tony Pobre , who, upon receiving the call from my Mom SVP Emi’s call, immediately offered his Rtn member May’s pick-up van. In time that the food was prepared, Doc Tony , together with his other Rotarian member Abraham Angeles and Rotarian May came , ready to join in delivering the hot sopas to Vitas Tondo.
Since it’s Sunday, Mommy Emi has no driver, and so, I was the one who drove the other car . It was still raining hard on that afternoon and upon reaching the muddy dumpsite, with the traces of the flood which just subsided a few hours before we came, I couldn’t believe that very muddy (black) road with all those garbage wastes lined-up on the road was where we were going. But since, Mommy Emi had been to that place before, she assured me that we would be well and my Big F Car could make it. Trusting her word, so I drove my way to the dumpsite .
Seeing the many children who got the share of the “hot sopas” which they even took home to share to their families, we can only say, that we are thankful to God for the opportunity to serve without any hesitation . Service Above Self is really an act of gratitutde to the great love of God to us.
My Ate Jela (a licensed Architect), my brothers Oliver and Tristan and I are all committed to be with our Mommy Emi in serving thru Rotary. As excerpt from , RCM Nielsen’s Vision Statement , “ …………Rotary is for every member of our family”.
We also donated some grocery items such as canned goods and loaves of bread and some packs of noodles , courtesy of PP Rey Alas , though he was not able to come along with us to the site.
Through teamwork, difficult task could be very easy . “SVP Nick, SVP Tony, and SVP Mommy Emi and PP Rey Alas,Dir Jane Walker, Dir. Glo Fuego, I admire your passion and big heart for people. God is blessed as you allow us to emulate your good deeds.”
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