Category Archives: Giving Back

PROJECT WHEELCHAIR Fundraising dinner is set on November 15 at The Champagne Room of Manila Hotel our Chef friends will be cooking their specialties in a 10 course Degustacion

Previous entry:  Project Wheelchair February 10, 2014

TOGETHER, LET US GIVE THE GIFT OF MOBILIY our target is to raise funds for 120 wheelchairs! Thank you to our Chef /kusinera/kusinero friends for the support  Jutes Templo, Cello Templo, Jam Melchor, Happy Ongpauco-Tiu, Bettina Osmeña, Dulce Magat-Gibb, Agelo Fuentes Comsti Sharwin L. Tee, John & Michelle Navarro Cu-Unjieng Angela Villoria Tolentino Miko-Jv Aspiras-San Juan

 Thank you too Karen Young Karen’s Kitchen Manny M. de Guzman & Peral M. de Guzman for always sharing your products third year in a row 🙂 Pls. email projectwheelchairph@gmail.com to reserve seats

Dedet dela Fuente – The Lechon Diva 🙂

On its third year, the Project Wheelchair fundraising dinner is back – bigger and better. This year the dinner will be held at the historic Manila Hotel in its picturesque Champagne Room on November 15^th 2015 at 6:30 p.m. The multi-course dinner, priced at PHP 3600/dinner guest, will raise funds for Project Wheelchair. All proceeds will go towards funding for wheelchairs for the less fortunate.

My sister, Liyora, and I established Project Wheelchair in 2011 to raise awareness for the plight of people with disabilities. We do this by raising funds to provide wheelchairs for under-privileged people with motor disabilities. We realized that one of the most important aspects of improving their quality of life is the access to wheelchairs, because mobility is the bridge to pursuing their dreams whether it is going to school or living a peaceful life in their senior years. Project Wheelchair is inspired by our older sister, Lauren, who had cerebral palsy, and was wheelchair-bound her whole life. After experiencing first-hand the everyday challenge of mobility even with a wheelchair, we could only imagine the difficulty faced by those who could not afford them. According to the Pilipinas Wheel Chair Foundation, “It is estimated that there are 5.8 Million Filipinos with physical disabilities requiring a wheelchair.” Project Wheelchair aims to provide wheelchairs to people who would otherwise not be able to afford one. Project Wheelchair wheelchairs have been donated to people around the Philippines, including Manila, Cebu, Tacloban, and Cavite. We also give wheelchairs to Kapwa Ko Mahal Ko.

Whenever our family would go to Anilao, in order to go scuba diving, Lauren’s eyes would light up at the sight of the ocean. For her, it was a dream come true. Being near nature seemed to soothe her soul and make her happier than she ever was in the city. Lauren would laugh and would be enchanted by the colors of the ocean as the boat sped away from the coast and into the sea. She never actually scuba dived, but she was absolutely entranced by the way the water moved and the vibrations of the boat. It was amazing to see how the simplest of things could make her face light up. This love for nature extended to her passion for horseback riding. Every week we would go horseback riding where she would be reunited with her favorite horse, Spirit. Together they would ride off across the field, and you could hear her laughter bouncing off the trees.

I think, from personal experience as an equestrienne, that horseback riding is one of the most liberating experiences one can enjoy. Just as the ocean made her feel alive so did horseback riding with Spirit make her feel free.

My sister Lauren was able to enjoy some of the happiest moments of her life because she had the gift of mobility. The same gift that my sister was fortunate to have is what Liyora and I wanted to bestow upon others. One of the recipients is Angeline who has Global Developmental Delay, which impairs her motor skills, including her ability to stand and walk. Angeline was left in an abandoned building as a newborn baby. Hearing the baby’s cries, “Lola Tina” was shocked to discover Angeline on the cold cement floor. “Lola Tina” took the baby in and cared for her as if she were her own. Now at four years old, Angeline continues to be cared for by “Lola Tina” who has promised to continue to love and care for the baby who was once left alone.

In the same way we were able to help Angeline, we were also able to help a little boy we met in Tacloban in 2014 who was physically handicapped. The young boy’s mother had made a makeshift wheelchair out of a plastic chair with its legs cut off. When they saw his new wheelchair for the first time, both he and his mother were relieved to know that life would be much easier now because they finally had a properly functioning wheelchair.

The smile in his eyes when he saw his new wheelchair…his mother said he had an old wheelchair but it has been damaged by the typhoon in Tacloban ….

Then the mother shows us his “old” wheelchair … …We were in tears when we saw his old chair …

Let me share with you a touching story about a man who lives in Tacloban .When the plane carrying the wheelchairs from Project Wheelchair arrived in Tacloban, a group of men approached the team of Chef Myke Tatung Sarthou that brought the chairs there. They asked if they could have 1 wheelchair. Their 50 yr old brother was not badly affected by the flood but he has polio and he has been carried by his brothers all his life. They were in tears when their brother finally got to sit in his first wheelchair Unknown to many, when one gives a wheelchair, it does not only help the handicap, but it also greatly helps their caregivers lives too  🙂

Below is a young boy who hardly leaves his home. He takes care of his older brother who is severely handicapped. He carries his brother from one corner to the next of their house as his parents both have to leave the house to earn a living. Hopefully now, he can go out with his brother even just to watch the other kids play. And hopefully, he can learn to smile more often now 🙂

Project Wheelchair gives the gift of mobility because we believe that it is through mobility that people can live more fulfilling lives. Whether one is fortunate or not, the gift of mobility encompasses all dreams and desires, from the transformative experience with nature to the attainment of second chances and renewed hopes. It is then our hope that you join us for our annual fundraising dinner on November 15^th 2015, 6 30pm at The Manila Hotel.

Attend the Project Wheelchair fundraising dinner at The Manila Hotel on November 15^th 2015. Donations of cash and secondhand wheelchairs are most welcome. To reserve seats for the dinner, please email projectwheelchairph@gmail.com or call +63 915 352 6640

Together let us give the gift of mobility.

Lileya Mariae dela Fuente Santos (aged 16) & Liyora Maire dela Fuente Santos (aged 13) honors the memory of their beloved sister Lauren by founding Project Wheelchair Philippines.