As people tread on the road of Talanay St. in Bagong Pag-Asa, Quezon City, several threads could be seen scattered everywhere. Some were cut short, some were solely tampered with, while others were spiraled with another. Among all those was one thread that goes a long way. A thread that seemed to endure hardships and withstood the threat of being cut and thrown. At the end of that thread awaits a life story that highlights passion as a center of success and perseverance as a drive to move along. This life story belongs to Rodolfo D. Jaro, an owner of a tailoring shop.

Before owning a business, Rodolfo and his wife, Lorena, worked as pattern makers and seamstresses at a factory in Makati. It was at this place where their love story was first stitched, and it was at this place where they had decided to build their tailoring shop. To showcase their work, the couple worked in their quaint house as sub-contractors to sew teachers’ uniforms. Because of their seamless abilities and passion for their craft, their customers could not help but pursue them as their first choice of tailors. Turning passion into great profit was how they made earnings after they resigned from their previous jobs.

However, their healthy income had been greatly affected by the coming of the pandemic. Because of the Enhanced Community Quarantine, learning customs shifted from face-to-face to online classes, which caused the demand for uniforms to decrease. Thus, making them lose more than half of what they were earning before since most of their customers were students and teachers.

It was expectedly evident that recovery would be hard. Fortunately, the couple had the opportunity to receive a Seed Capital Fund (SCF) from the Sustainable Livelihood Program of DSWD; this was meant to minimize the detrimental effects of the pandemic to small enterprises around the community. This time, the couple invested the SCF in producing facemasks, recognizing its demand as utmost protection against the Coronavirus (COVID-19). They bought fabric, yarn, garter, steamer, or iron for sewing uniforms and facemasks. Their old customers had become aware of the shop’s response to the pandemic and patronized their newly produced made-to-order facemasks. Aside from that, the couple also continued to sew teachers’ and employees’ uniforms with the help of a cooperative in Quezon City. 

“It only takes diligence, perseverance, and love in the work you are doing for the business to grow. The seed capital given to us by DSWD was a huge help that even amidst pandemic and while other enterprises were closing, we still had the opportunity to continue our business.” said Rodolfo.

The tailoring shop helped Rodolfo’s family a lot, from supporting his children’s education to sustaining their everyday needs and saving an average of Php 10,000.00 a month. Now, they are accepting made-to-order uniforms and face masks and repairs and alterations.

Moreover, they used an online shopping platform to trade their washable facemasks and assist their neighbors to earn money by paying them with their service every time they finished tailoring a product.
If one gives love to whatever he does, an excellent outcome is bound to result. Surely, the people who experience or use the product or work you have labored for will praise you. Most importantly, we should also save so that in the future, we will not be indebted and will have money to pull in case of an emergency.

At the end of the thread that withstood the threat of being cut and thrown, waited for a story Rodolfo was telling and he ends it saying,

“Sinulid ng buhay na naging daan ng awa at biyaya ng Diyos sa aming pamilya. Sinulid na siyang nagbigay ng pag-asa sa aming buhay. Sinulid na naging daan upang makatulong sa kapwa”. – Rodolfo Jaro

###