IN his recent Instagram post, our founder, Bro. Bo Sanchez, wrote:

Warning: 2 Hard Questions…

1. When you walk on a patch of earth, do you transform it to become a little piece of heaven?
2. When you enter into a situation, does it become more beautiful?

I have two friends, Tita Linda and Tita

Both were happy widows in their 70s. They also ran their own businesses.

One day after The Feast, they told me, “Brother Bo, we will serve in Anawim.”

Anawim is our Home for the Abandoned Elderly.

I said “Sure!” and they embraced Anawim with all their hearts.

The moment they entered our gates, Anawim changed forever.

Before they walked in, it was bare. Functional. Clean.

But after they walked in, BOOM, it became soooo beautiful, people would tell me, “Bo, Anawim looks like a resort!”

That’s because of Aida Dy and Linda Reyes. They oversaw the construction of six new homes for the elderly, our recreation center, our visitors’ area, and so much more. They served Anawim for many years.

But today, I have sad news. In a span of two months, Linda and Aida passed away. Linda on May 15, 2024, and Aida on July 31, 2024.

Linda was 87. Aida was 85.

They’re in Heaven now, watching over Anawim.

Priceless Gifts

Our post on the website of Kerygma (now Feast) Family (https://kerygmafamily.com/home/two-cousins-for-the-lord/🙂 essayed the priceless gifts Sis. Aida and Sis. Linda gave to Anawim. Here…

IF anyone will ever write a book on Anawim, the names Aida Dy and Linda Reyes will most likely be on almost every page.

Sis. Aida and Sis. Linda were members of the Board of Anawim Lay Missions Foundation Inc. led by our founder, Bro. Bo Sanchez. And so, they helped

Bro. Bo in establishing management policies of our Home for Abandoned Elderly.

Anawim Lay Missions opened our Home in 1996 to rejected and abandoned elderly roaming the streets.

We started with nipa huts for the lolos and lolas. In time, Sis. Aida and Sis.

Linda helped build concrete cottages yes, that look like those you find in resorts—a sanctuary for those poor and abandoned elderly who have nowhere else to go.

Ever present: Sis. Aida and Sis. Linda during groundbreaking rites for new Anawim homes led by Bro. Bo and staunch supporter mom, Sis. Pilar Sanchez. With them, donors Erwin Bulatao (extreme left) and Donna and Rolly España

Transitions

Anawim Love

Very close cousins, Sis. Aida and Sis. Linda worked all these years to improve Anawim services for our lolos and lolas. With fellow Board member

Sis. Marissa Chikiamco and Bro. Carlos Dimson, Anawim Center director, Sis. Aida and Sis Linda endeavored to implement Anawim’s programs:

Care and Rehabilitation— taking care of the nutrition and health needs of each elderly through volunteer services shared by physicians and medical staff;

Home Life— giving the best care and support as our way of sharing God’s love on Earth to each rejected and abandoned elderly;

Spiritual Life—finding respite in God’s loving arms through regular prayers and reflection;

One-on-one Counselling—listening, giving compassionate pieces of advice.

Anawim Pillars

To be able to implement such programs,

Sis. Aida and Sis. Linda, aside from contributing their own resources, raised funds for Anawim.

Every Sunday, they were at the lobby of the Feast Bay Area, the prayer gathering led by Bro. Bo at the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC). There, they sold beautiful pieces of fashion jewelry to raise funds for Anawim’s needs.

Here, standing strong as Anawim pillars, from left: Bro. Bo Sanchez; Fr. Steve Tynan; Sis. Linda, Sis. Aida, Mercy Ministries chair Bro. Hermie Morelos, Sis. Reng Morelos, and

Sis. Marowe Sanchez.

The Foundation needs financial resources not only for the day-to-day operations of our Home. Sis. Linda and Sis. Aida actively worked on fulfilling Bro. Bo’s vision to build ten Anawim branches in various parts of the country, not only for the elderly but also for orphans, street children, handicapped, drug dependents, unwed mothers, women in crisis.

Anawim’s website says, “The tears from being rejected and abandoned in their old age by their loved ones are slowly being wiped away in Anawim— their haven, their little piece of heaven on earth.”

Sis. Aida and Sis. Linda compassionately turned those tears into smiles in Anawim.

This story was first published in the Feast Family Online News Magazine.

Published by THE FEAST MERCY MINSTRY (August 11, 2024)