By Erin Fitzgerald
Ron Daul is convinced his late wife, Betty, is smiling a little bigger.
Maybe she’s marveling over the dental clinic with its shiny modern equipment at our new community center in Quezon City, Philippines. Or perhaps she’s admiring the well-stocked pharmacy, which will distribute medicine for free. Or she could be watching the brand new playground bring a little joy to children living in dire poverty.
One thing’s for certain. Betty would be thrilled knowing her husband made a significant donation in her memory to help build the new center. Named the Betty Lou Daul Center, the facility was designed to help 5,000 sponsored children with necessities like basic medical and dental care, educational support, and new clothing and shoes.
The donation was “well worthwhile because the center will serve and help so many children,” Ron Daul explained. “That’s what my wife would have wanted.”
Betty was an extremely giving person, recalls Daul. She grew up on a farm and was a dedicated member of her church and an active volunteer who enjoyed crafts.
While the Dauls never had any children of their own, they were long-time sponsors. Today, Daul sponsors four children, including two served by the new Betty Lou Daul Center.
Inaugurated in June, the center is located in a neighborhood called Batasan Hills, where families commonly live in a one multi-use room house, and few have sanitary facilities available. Impoverished children often struggle to attend school with the necessary supplies and uniforms because their parents have difficulty affording them.
“It really broke my heart to see the living conditions…” Daul said. “It made me even more happy to think I [helped build] the center.”
400,000 Children and Beyond
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The new center in Quezon City is just one of 20 community centers Children International hopes to build in the coming years. New infrastructure is helping us expand our sponsorship program and meet our goal of serving 400,000 children by 2011.
Building new community centers is vital
to our expansion plans. But the weakening dollar coupled with rising costs in all our project locations is slowing our progress. That’s why generous donations like Daul’s are vital to meeting our goal.
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The center offers many benefits and services to sponsored children, including access to a brand new dental clinic.
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Construction is underway or has recently been completed on centers in Legaspi, Tabaco and Manila, Philippines; Kolkata (Calcutta), India; and Barranquilla, Colombia. Additional centers are also planned at locations in Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Zambia, but unfortunately construction cannot continue as planned until funding has been secured.
For Daul, the decision to fund a major part of the Quezon City center wasn’t difficult. One night he recalled a vacation he and Betty took to Kenya. While there, the couple – married for nearly 40 years – visited a school for girls, many of whom were homeless or had been abused. One little girl was standing by herself. She held out her hands, and Betty couldn’t resist picking her up and hugging her.
“That flashback made my decision for sure,” Daul said. “She always loved children.”
Visiting the Philippines and seeing the center only reaffirmed Daul’s support of Children International. “It was much more than I expected,” Daul emphasized. “I really came away so happy … by sponsoring a child, you’re not just sponsoring a child, you’re helping the whole family and a community.”
Now that the center is complete, the Dauls’ lasting legacy will help thousands of children who are truly among the poorest of the poor. And who wouldn’t smile at all the possibility that lies ahead for these children and their families.
 View a slideshow of the new Betty Lou Daul Center and see how the center is giving sponsored families a better life.
Local media are also noticing the impact of the new center. Read a newspaper article from the Philippine Daily Inquirer.
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