"Rice 4 All"

"Rice 4 all"! That would be nice. Maybe not to you or me, because, being a Texan, about the only rice I eat is spanish rice. So I have been asked many times why I bother to try and help.  It's not that I'm a do-gooder. I don't relate to "personal sob stories" very well. I stay far away from people who sit on their ass and doing nothing, while, at the same time, they are begging for help. That won't fly with me. I've had my full share of ups and downs. I've had virtually nothing, and barely able to buy food.  I've gone up to having a three-story house on the well-to-do side of town, with three cars, and a garage full of expensive tools and toys. I've gone back down to where I was looking for a job, trying to make ends meet again, and wondering how I was going to feed my family. I've been there; done that. You can experience a lot in 59 years. Hell, you can experience a lot in 20 years! The point being that I'm nobody's pushover. But I have seen with my own eyes, farmers here working hard, dawn to dusk, trying to get their plants in on time, just to squeak out a living. Farmers in the States are the same way; trying to watch the weather, the seasons, the right plants to grow and when, and all the other factors. My father was a Texas farmer for years. One good drought and theyr'e hurt badly.  Here it's one direct typhoon hit and you're out. Most of them hesitate to ask for help.  Sometimes you have no choice. The farmers that I work with are hard working, honest, and always pay their debts. It may take a while, but it's a matter of pride with them. I help them because they need help.  It's that simple. Many times, once they are back on their feet, they can take it from there, and don't need my help again. But there are always many more who still do. Being that rice is the number one crop here, both for import and export, and every single Filipino on the island eats rice daily, the demand is huge. As with many crops, there is a wide variety of rice, ranging from the cheap stuff to the very expensive. Of course they want to raise the best type they can afford in order to get more at harvest. But the better the rice, the more the seeds and fertilizer costs. So many of them are limited as to what they can raise. As I have tried to explain this in a bit more detail, hopefully you can see why they need help, and why I need your help. Right now I have helped about 40 farmers.  That is a lot of people that have made a living and fed their families.  It is not meant as a brag, but it damn sure makes me feel good! Take a shot! A few bucks won't hurt you, and it will surely help them. Be THAT kind of person!