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Feature: RAINcelets: A business with a lending hand
PURCHASE YOUR OWN. Three customized headbands made by Rain Tiangco. Photo Credit: Rain Tiangco
As students, we’re usually busy with schoolwork, deadlines, and projects—the reason why we lack time for non-curricular activities like community service. But, little did we know that in our own small ways, we can still give back and help other people. Rain TIangco, a student with a desire to help, is one of the example of someone who’s found a way to turn her hobbies into helping other people through her small business, RAINcelets.
Handmade bracelets, anklets, and headbands are the things you can buy at RAINcelets. Every purchase sold will be used to organize an outreach program. Rain started making bracelets when she was in Grade 6. She would enjoy watching craft tutorials on YouTube and try to create more designs with loom bands and strings. As she got older, she continued making these bracelets and gave them as gifts to her friends.
The summer before her third year in high school, she found that she’d made loads of them without realizing it. She didn't know what to do with them, so she came up with the idea of selling them and later on donating her profits to those in need. Growing up, she’d always wanted to have a charity of her own, and this was a perfect opportunity to let that dream come into fruition.
"Na-realize ko kasi noong summer na iyon kung gaano ako ka-fortunate at kung gusto kong maging true to my word na gusto kong makatulong sa iba, dapat gamitin ko yung blessings na mayroon ako upang mabigay rin ng blessings ng iba." Rain talks about sharing her blessings with other people.
At first, she was hesitant about selling her bracelets because she was shy and felt overwhelmed by the idea of starting a business. Luckily, she has very supportive friends who would constantly buy her work, share posts regarding them, and even sell the bracelets themselves.
It was a successful launch, but it wasn’t all rainbows and butterflies. Rain faced difficulties along the way. She would stay up all night finishing orders from customers and often snuck making bracelets during class discussions or on the way to school. There were times when she couldn't finish them on time because of her tight schedule. Nevertheless, she continued and strived to work hard to achieve her goal.
While picking a place for an outreach, she first thought of helping children battling cancer, but coincidentally, her father's church group was conducting an outreach program in Smokey Mountain, Tondo, so she decided to hold her outreach there instead. On that day, Rain and her friends performed a short skit for the kids. After that, they started giving school supplies and handed out food and drinks.
Last year, she held a smaller outreach where they used the earnings to buy ingredients for food and goods. When December 24 struck, they went around Quezon City and gave food to less fortunate families.
It was a roller coaster ride for Rain. She learned a lot from starting a business, selling, organizing an outreach, and especially to how to manage her time well. At the end of the day, though it was a tough ride, all the challenges were worth it.
“Nakakapagod siya pero I learned to pace myself din, kung paano ibalance siya sa ibang responsibilities ko. Worth it siya, lalo na 'pag outreach ba mismo kasi feel mo yung nakakatulong ka. Dagdag pa yung support na binibigay sa'kin ng ibang mga kaibigan at customer” shared Rain.
For 2020, Rain plans on managing another outreach program using the money she’s earned from her most recent line of RAINcelet products. This time, it’s to help SOS Children’s Villages, a non-governmental organization focused on building families for children in need. Due to the heavy workload in school, she hasn’t prepared a program yet, but she assures that this second outreach will be bigger.
Like Rain, we can also turn our hobbies into something we can use to help our society, it can be through creating artworks or through starting small businesses to support certain causes. Even though we are still students, we can still find ways on how we can help other people and hopefully, change the world for the better. //by Jelena Evangelista
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