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A 91-year-old lawyer in Cebu City was recognized as a champion of ?family values? by Mormon Church leaders and followers in dinner award rites Thursday.
Esperanza G. Valenzona, founder of the Share a Child Movement, thanked the organizers from her wheelchair, where she said she was ?so excited? and looked forward to contributing more to the cause of children's welfare.
?Problems of crime, abuse and exploitation have become so commonplace that I fear for the future of our children. Let us not allow evil to overwhelm our society and define our sense of personhood,? she said in her acceptance speech, read by daughter Niña, executive director of the foundation.
Keith R. Edwards, Philippine area president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, thanked the Leyte-born widow for her tireless advocacy to build health families.
?Thank you for your goodness,? he said. ?Your efforts of helping dysfunctional families will be multiplied in generations after. When you save a child, you save a family.?
Valenzona is not a Mormon church member; the award is given to deserving recipients based on their accomplishments.
A mother of nine children, Valenzona set up Share A Child 27 years ago in Cebu to help poor children get scholarships, set up community libraries and teach abused children to stand up their rights.
As a lawyer, she led a crusade with the late Atty. Winefreda Geonzon, to rescue children in jail to keep them from mixing with adult criminals. This led to a unique Boy Scout program for minor inmates and the police nicknaming her at one point the ?grandmother of pickpockets?, a title she takes with a laugh. - Eileen G. Mangubat
