A Seattle-based video blogger and her family’s simple act of generosity stirred emotions online and proved that “charity begins at home.”
In the three-minute video posted on Judy Travis’ Facebook page entitled itsjudytime, a young girl named Julianna was moved to tears upon watching a short clip of impoverished Filipino children lining up in a shelter. Judy, 30, asked her daughter why was she weeping after she saw the video. Julianna noted that the kids were not wearing pajamas and she wanted to donate her used clothes to them. Then, it was Judy’s turn to be moved to tears.
Julianna and Judy started sorting out her used clothes and toys for the needy Filipino children. Judy and her husband, Benji, flew to the Philippines to visit Convoy of Hope, an anti-poverty NGO headed by American volunteers. During their life-changing trip to the country, the couple headed to a northern Luzon province to personally donate their daughters’ second-hand items and learn more about the NGO’s humanitarian projects for the underprivileged.
In another video blog entry, the Travis couple bonded with several children in one of the shelters and even munched on different Filipino dishes such as longganisa. They also strolled around a nearby SM mall.
“Last week, Benji and I went to the Philippines with Convoy of Hope to visit a small village. This is Julianna’s reaction after seeing our footage of the children living in poverty,” she wrote in a touching caption. Her Facebook clip garnered 1.7 million views as of its posting 10 hours ago today, August 16.
The blogger and full-time mother also shared her experience on her other social media accounts.
“I’m so proud of her, and I could picture her playing with the kids,” she said on her video blog she shared to her 1 million YouTube followers on Monday.
A lot of Facebook users lauded the family’s simple act of kindness and charity.
“I was so moved at how Julianna at such a young age understood the situation of the children in the Philippines and was willing to give away all her things to the children in need,” one user said.
“I totally cried… So inspiring to see Julianna’s heart and generosity,” another user commented.
Judy started out as a fashion guru on YouTube before she documented the roller-coaster lives of her husband and daughters Keira, Miyako and Julianna. Benji even quit his real estate job to become his wife’s cameraman and co-host. Gianna Francesca Catolico