Wednesday, July 3, 2013

Missionary preps up for Davao to CDO walk

DAVAO CITY July 3 (PIA)- Tom MacIntosh a medical missionary is preparing for a 300-kilometer hike-for-a-cause which will take him from Davao City to the northern Mindanao City of Cagayan de Oro.

MacIntosh said the walk which is slated to be held this July 20 is aimed to raise funds and awareness to unsung Filipino heroes who man several missions that serve the poor in Mindanao.

"Whenever I feel pain, I always think of the physical and emotional pain experienced by these heroes." MacIntosh said during his guesting at Club 888 Media Forum in Marco Polo Davao yesterday (July 3). Currently he is in deep training going for long walks before plunging into a punishing Davao-Cagayan  de Oro walk which will start from Ulas in Davao City.

Supporters can pledge any amount per kilometer hiked. For example an interested donor can pledge P10 for every kilometer (example P10 x 300 kilometers= P3,000).

The goal is to attain P300,000 in donations which will be used for mission programs particularly those serving Muslim and Indigenous communities. The funds is hoped to support livelihood projects, medical, dental, midwifery clinics, conflict resolution, support financial needs of specific mission teams among many other relevant projects.

Another issue the Hike-for-a-cause wants to highlight is to raise awareness on the heavy attrition of field missionaries in the country particularly in Mindanao. MacIntosh noted that in the past seven years, Mindanao has lost 34% of its field missionaries due to preventable causes.

He noted that among the smaller organizations and grass roots movements is an almost complete lack of pastoral care while they are on the field. The funds from the hike will help to assemble and operate an all Filipino mobile member care and development team with counselling training and missionary experience to help address this attrition rate.

Tom MacIntosh, 50 started as a medical missionary in 1992 serving in the provinces of Maguindanao and Sultan Kudarat.   He is the founder of PGC foundation, an organization dedicated to the welfare of the rural poor in Mindanao.

For inquiries on how to pledge and donate for the hike you can visit the PGC Foundation website www.pgcfoundation.org (RG Alama/PIA-XI)

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