(Editor's note: Belen Ortega, current head of the DCBC Women's Fellowship, sent this description from a letter of appeal to her, "The Philippine Children's Mission, Inc. (PCM) is a Christian home providing holistic ministry to disadvantaged children of persons afflicted with leprosy. PCM's mission is to improve the quality of life of the children through nurturing, education, and character development towards productive lives pleasing to God."

For the past five years, DCBC, through the Women's Fellowship, has been supporting the Philippine Children's Mission. The support began under former head Marlu Vencio (now based with her husband and children in the US) through the initiative of Belen Ortega. Ladies of the Women's Fellowship, some with husbands and children in tow, would visit the children of PCM, yearly if possible, bearing scholarship funds, school supplies, other donations in kind, and food. Fond memories shared by DCBC and PCM include song and dance numbers by the PCM children, pansit canton cooked by Kuya Ed Vencio, a tae kwon do demo by Vincent Doronila (now based in England), and an evangelistic magic show by Kuya Caloy Novisteros (still very much with DCBC).

Should you, dear reader, be interested in finding out more about PCM, and feel moved as we have been at DCBC to make a much needed donation of funds or in kind towards the needs of the children, you may visit the Philippine Children's Mission at 37 Pulong Gubat, Balagtas, Bulacan. It is managed by local missionaries Engr. Fred and Dra. Maria Dellota.)

The women of DCBC put one of their plans into action—right on schedule—when they organized the fund-raising rummage sale held last May 20, 2006. This was to replenish the scholarship fund for the Philippine Children's Mission, Inc. (PCM), a Christian orphanage and halfway house in Bulacan for children of leprous parents. Under the auspices of the DCBC Women's Fellowship, reactivated only a month before, these ladies successfully implemented at the Krus na Ligas town hall this initial step in their continuing fund-raising drive to benefit PCM's children.

Having already conducted several successful rummage sales, the women (a number of them avid ukay-ukay shoppers themselves) were able to come up with a system of selling the goods in a more orderly fashion than usual. Two days before the actual activity, six ladies and a husband (on loan from the DCBC Men's Fellowship) gathered after dinner at the Quiwa residence to price the goods for sale. These ranged from clothes, shoes, and bags, to books, toys, and pots and pans, even old crocheted bedspreads, all donated by church members.

A definitely pregnant Belle Villanueva, who spearheaded this activity in spite of "morning sickness at night", with her "alalays" Grace Rocha, Nam Ugaddan, Ada Quiwa, Frances Ibañez, and Maquette Alforque (and Maquette's hubby Armin) all joined in the pricing—the tedious task of sorting, then writing out price tags to stick on all the sorted items one by one. But, of course, this had its rewards—the taggers were privileged to purchase their pick of the items before anybody else.

Then, of course, logistics had to be considered—transporting the goods from the Quiwas to Krus na Ligas. At first, the unavailability of the vehicles and owner/drivers usually tapped for these activities was a matter of concern. But as soon as Belle posted a plea through the e groups for help, a number of other church members who had pickup trucks or vans readily responded. So there were the vans of the Portugals and the Rochas, the Trooper and the Highlander of the Ferrers, and the Amantillos with car at the Quiwas as early as 7:15AM of Saturday the 20th to pick up and transport the goods.

Arriving at the site, the DCBC "salesladies" began setting up shop at 8AM and were open for business by 8:30AM. This being the second time that the church has held a rummage sale at the Krus na Ligas town hall, the ladies were more prepared to face the "undisciplined" crowd and avoid the possible pilfering of goods by a few dishonest elements. A row of chairs tied together by a rope cordoned off a portion of the area to which there was only one designated entrance/exit for buyers. Cashiers Belle and Grace strategically positioned themselves at the entrance/exit so that people could conveniently pay for items as they went out. Assisting at the counter were Frances, who served as Belle's bagger, and Belen Ortega, current head of the Women's Fellowship, who dutifully came and brought her own items for sale, despite having just gotten back from her "second honeymoon" in Europe.

Policing the traffic in and out of the sale area were Rexie Amantillo and Nam, making sure that no one carried out any "unbought" items. Much needed help was also extended by some of our Tagalog brethren ladies—the twins Joy and May Pecaña, Jane Espiritu and her one-year-old daughter Apple (already a veteran of DCBC rummage sales). They along with Rexie's cousin Lynie Valencia served as watchers while customers rummaged through the items. (Brother Vic Mandalupe of the Tagalog congregation, who secured permission for the activity from Krus na Ligas authorities, was also on hand.)

Braving the heat of the morning sun, all the volunteers carried out their duties efficiently without fuss or complaint. This time, unlike the rummage sale previously held also in Krus na Ligas, shoplifting was prevented, but it was observed that there was some switching of price tags so that higher-priced items ended up at the cashier with lower price tags. Noting this, the ladies will definitely come up with an efficient way of avoiding next time this kind of "qualified shoplifting". (No wonder some ukay-ukay staple the price tags to the merchandise.)

Though the activity was supposed to last for two hours, the ladies decided to close shop after only an hour when the number of customers dwindled much earlier than expected. Competition was tough as other ukay-ukay exist in the area. Yet despite the odds and with perhaps only sixty percent of the goods sold, the women were able to raise more than 4,000 pesos from the sale. (The unsold goods may reappear at a future rummage sale, or be donated to the next missionary drive that comes soliciting.)

Praise belongs to God alone who yet again gave our church, particularly the women, through this fund-raising activity an opportunity to serve Him. Helping PCM has been a ministry of the DCBC Women's Fellowship for five years running now and it has indeed been a privilege for DCBC to make a difference in the lives of these children. The money from this and other fund-raising efforts will go to the scholarship fund that helps support the schooling of several of the children, also to the purchase of school supplies for them. May the Lord our God indeed be glorified as we continue to contribute to the furtherance of His kingdom through the good works He has appointed us to do.