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10 | August 16, 2018 | Malibu surfside news NEWS
malibusurfsidenews.com
Rotary Club treasurer shares
tales from recent mission trip
Barbara Burke
Freelance Reporter
It wasn’t an easy journey,
but it was a successful one.
Earlier this year, Malibu’s
Joy Arcenas went to her
native Philippines, where
$1,000 in donations became
2,000 pairs of slippers for
those in need.
At the Malibu Rotary
Club’s Aug. 1 meeting, Arcenas
(the club’s treasurer)
shared details of her latest
mission trip and her nonprofit,
The Art of Giving
(founded in 2014).
“We also provided backpacks
and school supplies
that were so very appreciated
by the recipients,” she
said. “This was our Rotary’s
first international trip to the
Philippines and it was very
successful.”
Her budget for the trip
was PHP 500,000, equivalent
to $10,000, and, good
treasurer that she is, she
stretched those funds to do
the most possible good.
Pulling off all of the logistical
details of acquiring,
assembling and distributing
donations in the archipelagic
country with its voluminous
number of complicated
and geographically
diverse islands proved to be
a herculean effort. Fortuitously,
Arcenas was helped
greatly by family members
and friends.
“My cousin, Salvacion
Sausama, was able to get
the backpacks wholesale
after she conducted quality
control by examining
samples to make sure they
were well made,” Arcenas
said. “With 10,000 pesos,
we got the backpacks we
needed from a Manilla
warehouse and volunteers
Shoes, backpacks and more were donated to needy in
the Philippines through the Malibu Rotary Club’s first
international trip to the country. Photo Submitted
who were my friends and
many members of my family
— my brothers, sisters
and nieces — also all
helped me assemble the
materials at my brother’s
mango farm. I belong to
a very large, giving family,
so we never have any
problems getting enough
volunteers.”
Arcenas’ presentation
showed the volunteers in
action as they went on foot
where no vehicle could
traverse, sweltering in the
country’s oppressive humidity.
“When we went into some
rural areas, then sometimes
we went by donkey,” Arcenas
said. “If it was a low
tide, we went by buffalo.”
Excursions to do good
often present challenges for
volunteers who weary on
the way as they encounter
logistical and physical obstacles.
The Philippines is a
complicated and economically
challenged country,
suffering from war in parts
of its sovereign, as well as
a lack of infrastructure in
some parts of the country
Rotary Club meetings
All are invited to attend
Malibu Rotary Club
meetings at no cost.
The club meets at 8
a.m. each Wednesday
at Pepperdine’s Villa
Graziadio Drescher
Campus (24255 PCH,
Room LC 152, Malibu).
and frequent political turmoil.
Given those variable and
realities, it is not surprising
that remote areas are most
in need of hands-on, concrete,
useful help like that
which Arcenas and her team
delivered.
Rotary International is an
international service organization
intended to bring
together business and professional
leaders to provide
humanitarian services, encourage
high ethical standards
in all vocations, and to
advance goodwill and peace
around the world.
Malibu’s Rotary Club has
a motto of service above self.
Arcenas’ project exemplifies
meeting both of those
goals.