Our LIFT-B.A.B.I.E.S. Foundation Inc. ministry is our way of thanking and giving back to our Lord, who has answered all our prayers and continues to do so.
Our first grandchild, Jeremaia Tabitha Eunice Matubis, was born in March 2, 1999 with a rare liver disease called “Biliary Atresia” and needed a liver transplant in order to live.
Mere salaried employees that we were, we couldn’t afford the more than P20,000,000 that was needed for a liver transplant in the U.S.
Godless that we were, we turned to Him and accepted Jesus Christ as our Saviour. We prayed to the Lord for a liver transplant and all that was needed to be able to bring Jeremaia to the U.S., visas, airplane tickets, pocket money, etc. And everything that we prayed for came to pass!
Jeremaia got her liver transplant for free at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota in March 30, 2000. (She is now a healthy 18-year-old living with her mom in Auckland, New Zealand.)
In 2004, we established the foundation.
As part of our ministry, Lulu and I have been collecting for more than 15 years now Starbucks pastries from several outlets in Paranaque and Makati Cities.
We distribute these to the homeless and the needy.
At our age (my wife Lulu is 75, I’m 72), people continually ask us why we do this when we can be spending our years as retirees just enjoying life.
We harken to the words of Jesus Christ: “For I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; …Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to Me.”
God is good, all the time. And He listens and answers our prayers.
