Kitty
Elicay says, "Miss Universe Catriona Gray Helped Build A Preschool For Kids
In Tondo" (17 December 2018, Smart
Parenting, smartparenting.com.ph):
(In 2016), she started a charity project
called Paraiso: The Bright Beginnings
Project. Catriona helped raise funds to turn an old apartment building in
Manila into a preschool for kids ages 3 to 5, a place where underprivileged
kids from Tondo can gain access to free education and care.
Not
surprisingly, therefore, before she left for Thailand where the beauty pageant
was to be held, our beauty queen visited Tondo and her little friends. Alfred
Bayle says "Catriona Gray Finds Inspiration From Tondo Visit" (14
November 2018, Inquirer.Net, entertainment.inquirer.net).
She said, "I also went to some of their houses and you know, it just gives
me that drive, like this is what I'm here for, to change their lives or to help
change their lives."
Connect
that now to her answer to this final question to determine who will be the Miss
Universe this year, as quoted by Llanesca Panti of GMA News Online (17
December 2018, gmanetwork.com):
I work a lot in the slums of Tondo, Manila,
and the life there is very… the life there is poor and it's very sad. And I've
always taught myself to look for the beauty of it, to look for the beauty in
the faces of the children, and to be grateful. And I would bring this aspect as
Miss Universe to see situations with a silver lining, and to assess where I
could give something, where I could provide something as a spokesperson. And
this I think, if I could also teach people to be grateful, we could have an
amazing world where negativity could not grow and foster. And children will
have a smile on their faces.
You
know that that answer is from the warmth of the heart. Look at the above image,
from her Instagram account – the big girl is enjoying along with the small
children smearing themselves doing an impromptu smeart, or smear of the art, a word I have just invented and liked
right away, because it is very close to the word heart, which is the one word that I would use to describe Catriona
Elisa Ragas Magnayon Gray, Miss Universe 2018. She has the heart not only for
the children but more so the impoverished ones.
And
Miss Llanesca in that same news I cited above quotes Vice President Leni
Robredo as saying:
Your victory has brought happiness to
millions of households throughout our nation. With those inspiring words, you
already became a winner in my heart, and, I am certain, in those of many
others. I wish you the best, and may you make full use of your new role as an
ambassador to continue bringing the message of hope to the world. Mabuhay ang
mga Bicolana! (Long live the Bicolanas!)
They
are both from the Bicol Region, Miss Universe from Oas in Albay and Miss Vice President
from Naga City. Both beauties. Both actually and actively concerned about the
poor. Both warm hearts.@
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