Angeles City: A Catholic priest focused the spotlight on street children on Nov 17 night when he received the humanitarian award during the live global telecast of the 67th Miss World pageant in China.
“If we want to create a bright future, we should start taking care of the kids first, especially those on the streets who could make a great impact on the condition of the future,” said Fr. Marciano “Rocky” Evangelista, a member of the Salesians of Don Bosco congregation who started Tuloy Foundation Inc., a home and training center for street children in Metro Manila in 1993, and in this Pampanga capital in 2015.
‘Better life’
Evangelista said he hoped the award would make people realize that “even the poorest of the poor can deliver excellence to live a better life once given a good opportunity,” citing the children who lived and trained at Tuloy center in Muntinlupa City.
Julia Morley, founder of Beauty With a Purpose and chief executive officer of the Miss World Organization, invited Evangelista as a special guest during the event.
Morley described the priest and his Tuloy team as “incredible.”
“Tuloy” means welcome or “come in” in Filipino. The Italian saint, John Bosco, popularly known as Don Bosco, worked among poor children forced to eke out a living on the streets of Europe.
“Your work is remarkable and I am delighted that we will continue to support your humanitarian efforts,” Morley told Evangelista in a letter.
‘Self-reliance’
The football-playing priest started Tuloy center with 10 lay volunteers in 1993. Tuloy center was one of the places that Pope Francis visited in 2016.
It helps “poor and abandoned children to regain self-worth and dignity, giving them a chance for a better life, acquire Christian values and habits for a decent, humane and Christian life, and develop the skills and training for self-reliance and integration into society.”
Since 1998, the foundation had graduated 713 children who completed basic education, and 1,206 others who took technical-vocational education and training programs.
(Source:inquirer)