Photo shows (l to r) Mr. Josiah Clay, Pastors Ulyses T. Castro, and John G. Alcedo during the turn over and dedication of mini ambulance on January 23, 2011 at Bulwang, Numancia.
The Aklan Baptist Church (ABC) at Bulwang, Numancia, Aklan received a mini ambulance from the Willow Carys Gray Memorial Clinic Fund of Victoria, Australia. The donor is Tom Carra family and sponsored by Faith, Hope, and Love Children foundation Australia, Inc.
The donation, according to Pastor Bob Gray, is in response to the critical need of extending emergency/relief services to ABC church members and the people of Aklan. Bob Gray visited Aklan province in the wake of devastation of Typhoon Frank in June 2008. He witnessed untold miseries and hardships especially of the poor.
The ambulance unit is equipped with stretcher, oxygen tank, dextrose dispenser, and medicine kit. This will be complemented by a paramedic team to extend free service to those who could not afford the high cost of hiring an ambulance. The minimum charge of a government hospital ambulance to bring patients to Iloilo City is P4,000 per travel, while private contractors could be a hefty P6,000. Indeed for victims timely aid could be unnecessary loss of life.
It should be recalled that at the height of Dengue disease outbreak last year several patients failed to be transported to well equipped hospitals in Iloilo City because of the shortage of ambulance units. The treatment of the disease is transfusion of blood plasma and hospitals in Aklan do not have this capability.
Formal turnover and dedication of the vehicle was made on January 23, 2011 by Mr. Josiah Clay who represented the donor. Pastor Ulyses T. Castor, in his response, called it a treasured gift that could impact the lives of our people in need of emergency services. The church also acknowledged gift of three units sewing machine donated by the couple Claude and Christine Jones.
Pastor Bob Gray of Carmel Welsh Presbyterian Church in Sebastopol, Victoria, Australia is commended for facilitating the generous donation. In October 2009, a service bus costing P800,000 was turned over to ABC for its Project Compassion program. A total of 280 school children mostly indigents are given free Christian-centered education, supplementary feeding and health care at the ABC Student Center. Sponsors of Project Compassion PH 872 are based in the US, UK, Australia, Canada, and South Korea who regularly send money and gifts to 60,000 kids all over the Philippines. Those involved are 320 church partners imbued with the mission to provide well rounded education of children from despondent families.
The Faith, Hope and Love Children Foundation has also delivered similar unit to a Christian church in Guihulngan, Negros Occidental. Pastor Bob Gray together with wife Heather is passionate about building a clinic in each project that they are involved with. This is in memory of their grand daughter Willow Carys who died at a tender age of eight months in 2007. (by ERNESTO T. SOLIDUM) /MP
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