A time to laugh, a time to help
Few weeks back, comedy actor Dennis Padilla and his brother Gene formed a Viber group made up of comedians including Ai Ai de las Alas, Vhong Navarro, Bayani Agbayani, Ogie Alcasid, Janno Gibbs and myself.
In the beginning, we would meet online just to joke around until Ogie invited us to his and wife Regine Velasquez’s Facebook Live Concert. Hosted by The 700 Club Asia’s Peter
Karuiz and Kata Inocencio, the show was a fundraiser which aimed to provide Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), preventive care kits, and food packs to 60 public and private hospitals and more than 5,000 people under the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ).
Soon, Janno suggested our own group---around 70 talents strong by then---should follow suit. So, we organized a Zoom Meeting posted on each of the members’ Facebook account. After just two of those, we were able to collect P100,000 for donations to those gravely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. The group’s name? Covidians which later evolved to Covidyantes.
So far, we’ve fed 450 children in
Tondo whose families were victims of a recent fire. Vhong and Jhong Hilario spearheaded that project with director Al Tantay.
Comedians Eric Nicolas and Jeffrey Tam also donated P50,000 to National Children’s Hospital. Then, half of the proceeds was used to pay for the hospital bills of five indigent families.
When Jeff and I left the hospital, we felt bad because we wanted to help more families but our resources were limited. I could empathize with the parents. I mean, even if we comedians don’t have work and salaries for months, at least our children and family members are healthy. The parents we saw have no work during the pandemic and worse, their children have cancer.
The remaining half of the proceeds was divided among the Covidyantes. After all, we’ve not had work since the ECQ was imposed.
Let me close this column with a beautiful quote from Eric.
“It is so touching to see the have-nots give their last money just to help other people. Helping others is not to show off what you can give. Helping others is an obligation. It should be part of your nature. It should flow in your blood. We were hardwired by God from birth to have compassion for others. This is the perfect time to help. God gives you blessings so you can be a blessing for others,” he said.
(Covidyantes would like to thank our benefactors Congressman Albee Benitez, Pampanga’s Best chairman Darius Hizon, Eddie Bool and others more who do not wish to be named)