Ikinuwento ni Antoinette Taus na hango sa pangalan ng kaniyang ina na pumanaw noong 2013 ang binuo niyang Communities Organized for Resource Allocation (CORA) na may layuning protektahan ang kalikasan at mga tao.
"Para siyang naging transitional moment in my life. Never, ever, ever, ever in my wildest dreams think that I would be doing what I'm doing today, that we would even have this kind of a non-profit [organization]," sabi ni Antoinette sa podcast na "Surprise Guest with Pia Arcangel."
Ayon kay Antoinette, napakamatulungin na tao ang kaniyang ina.
"For as long as I can remember mahal na mahal siya ng lahat ng tao. It was really because of her kindness, generosity and ‘yung walang question, kumbaga 'pag kailangan mo ng tulong, nandiyan siya para sa ‘yo and actually, CORA is named after her," dagdag niya.
Taong 2004 nang magkaroon umano ng cancer ang kaniyang ina na nasa US. Walong buwan lamang makaraan na malaman ni Antoinette ang karamdaman ng ina, pumanaw na ito.
Inamin ni Antoinette na nakaranas siya ng anxiety at depresyon nang pumanaw ang kaniyang ina. Tila nawalan na rin siya ng gana sa kaniyang career.
Hanggang sa noong 2013, bumalik ng Pilipinas si Antoinette, at muling gumawa ng proyekto sa showbiz.
"It was interesting because for the first time in a very, very long time, I had this need to be able to do something more while being here," saad niya.
Naisipan ni Antoinette na yayain ang mga kaibigan na may gawin "just to give back," na tuloy-tuloy kahit sa isang buwan lamang.
"Within one year of the once a month feeding program, it turned into everything it is today," anang aktres.
"When I look back at the reason why I wanted to do that, I really attribute it to the pain that I felt," dagdag ni Antoinette.
"Pain itself, it may not be the same for each person but the intensity can be just as grave. I started seeing and recognizing pain around me, in people, kahit iba 'yung pinagdadaanan nila. It was almost like a form of me wanting to ease someone else's pain the way I had also hoped for someone to somehow be there for me," sabi pa ng aktres.
Ngayon, hangad ng CORA na pagsama-samahin ang mga volunteer at mga kumpanya, at makipagtulungan sa mga local government unit para sa feeding programs, at pagprotekta sa kalikasan, lalo na ang karagatan.
"For us, in any way that we can support by helping communities have more mangroves para hindi sila tamaan ng mga storm surge, para maprotektahan ang mga kabahayan nila," sabi ni Antoinette. "We really try to bring together and highlight the issues that affect both people and the planet." --FRJ, GMA News
