Emilda is 18 years old. She and her family live in a crowded squatter community in the Philippines. It’s beside the public cemetery.
Emilda has the mental capacity of a three-year-old child. She is also an athlete.
In 2009 Emilda competed in the 12th Philippine Special Olympics; her performance qualifies her to be part of the national delegation to the 2011 Special Olympics World Summer Games.
With your donation she can rise above her circumstances and compete in Athens. This is an opportunity of a lifetime.
Additional Information
For Emilda, overcoming poverty comes in the form of running. In 2009 she competed in the 12th Philippine Special Olympics and won one gold medal, two silver medals, and one bronze medal in Track and Field. Her performance qualifies her to compete in the 2011 Special Olympics World Summer Games in Athens, Greece this summer.
Living in dire poverty, her parents are not able to provide for Emilda to compete, even in local competitions. Her church and child development center have absorbed the expenses for Emilda’s local and national competitions. Unfortunately, it’s beyond their ability to help her compete internationally.
The Philippine government cannot financially support athletes competing in the Special Olympics and so help must come from elsewhere.
Her need is $19,857. At the time of this posting, almost half the money has been raised.
Emilda has trained and worked hard. Her mother and the director of the development center have been her champions. They’ve worked to overcome every barrier they can.
Will you join the effort to give Emilda an opportunity of a lifetime?
Your donations will provide for Emilda’s training and equipment expenses, as well as the travel expenses (e.g., passports, visas, food, transportation, lodging, etc.) for Emilda, her mom and her mentor, who is also the director of the development center and will serve as the family’s translator. Neither Emilda nor her mom have ever traveled outside of their country before.
During the blur of a month that I’ve come to call the August Rush I hit a couple of personal milestones. They were pushed aside due to all the other activity that was going on but are important enough (to me, at least) that I thought I’d turn the clock back a bit and share these milestones with you, my faithful readers and friends.
were huge reels of 2″ video tape (officially named Quadruplex) that ran on beastly machines the size of bedroom closet. Another one of my responsibilities was editing commercial breaks into movies. This was physically editing 16mm film…the whole cutting and splicing thing. My how times have changed!
Milestone #2 – Compassion
This morning I got an email from a co-worker who informed me I had been robbed. Not robbed in the traditional sense of the word, but robbed none-the-less.
