Mission — Kamay Project

Kamay in Tagalog means hand.

“A hand has many uses... it’s used to welcome, to meet, to communicate, to share, to lift, to support, to carry.”

BORACAY 2015

BORACAY 2017

The smiles of the Ati Children captured the hearts of our all our family

It was the vision of Grace Santos-Stutz to bring over fifty members of her family to their Philippine homeland to conduct a free medical and dental clinic to the Ati Village in Boracay, Philippines last December

The Ati Village on the island of Boracay in the Philippines

The community center of the Ati Village houses the history of its people

Grace Santos-Stutz has partnered with Pastor Marisa Familiara to provide education and medical and dental services to the Ati Village in Boracay

Under Grace's direction our family created a GoFundMe site and collected matching funds from corporate donations to raise money for medical supplies, medicines, and shipping.

With the most primitive forms of sanitation our dental team was able to serve over 150 dental patients, many who had been in chronic pain for months and years

Grace's brother, Victor, was about the age of this young patient when he came to America. Opportunity and perseverance have allowed him to return to his homeland to help others

Grace's cousin, Dr. Lino DeGuzman, was also the age of this young patient when he emigrated from the Philippines. A gastroenterologist in Newport Beach, he has also returned to help the people of his homeland.

Dr. Maribel Villarosa, Southern California PERMANENTE Medical Group Chief of Service Psychiatry - Riverside. and Southern California Regional Director of Other Clinical Services Mental Health Care consults entering patients in her native Tagalog tongue. Her niece Lauren is a public health student at Baylor University.

This generation of our family includes students at major universities across the country that are preparing to enter the medical and dental fields. Grace's niece, Nikki, is a premed student at the University of Southern California.

US doctors from our family join with local doctors, former classmates from medical school in the Philippines, for a free medical clinic

We are family.....first cousins from our mother's and father's family of nine siblings, eight that survived World War II. Three went on to become doctors and dentists, one an educator.

Our niece and award-winning Seattle chef, Melissa Miranda, went to market with sous chef Kristina to prepare the fresh meal for the village for New Year’s

A homemade feast prepared for the villagers to eat traditional "kamay" style, by hand, laid out on fresh banana leaves

The children enjoy their meal “kamay style”

Their favorite part of the meal…pizza!

Lukas De Los Santos, the youngest member of our family, emptied his piggy bank to contribute to funding The Kamay Project

Even as a four year old, Grace Santos led her family (mother and aunts) hand in hand in the Philippines

Your contributions will help fund the Kamay Project in the following ways:

Provide local Filipino doctors and dentists transportation to the Mission of Love Integrated School to assist in medical and dental care
Provide a special holiday meal for the children and their families
Provide water and snacks for the clinic attendees
Provide ongoing antibiotics, vitamins and medical supplies throughout the year to be supervised and distributed through the school
Cover shipping costs for necessary medical supplies from Manila to Boracay
Cover costs for reading glasses

Services the team will offer for the Ati People:

Free medical clinic to meet basic needs: fever, colds, flu, skin and wound care
Free dental exam and basic care
Distribution of necessary pain relievers and topical medicines
Prescriptions for antibiotics and vitamins to be distributed directly by the staff of Mission of Love Integrated School
Distribution of toiletry and dental supplies (shampoo, soap, toothbrushes, toothpaste, feminine products)
Distribution of reading glasses