Founder of Philippines charity moving to Cape, gives presentation

With Peter Cowles' daughter enrolled at Southeast Missouri State University, he soon will move from Tennessee to Cape Girardeau. However, he will be at home for only about six weeks of the year.

Cowles spends the rest of his time in the Philippines, where he works as founder and president of Seeds of Dignity Ministries, which helps impoverished Filipinos.

On Sunday, he gave a presentation at La Croix Church in Cape Girardeau about his organization.

La Croix Church member Kelly Morton first met Cowles in Modesto, California, while working for the city of Modesto's tree department.

After moving to Cape Girardeau, Morton's roots with Cowles remained intact, as Morton serves as one of the local voices on Seeds of Dignity's board of directors.

Six-month-old Peter Fanger, who is half-Filipino, peers over his grandfather's shoulder Sunday at La Croix Church in Cape Girardeau during Peter Cowles' presentation.BEN MATTHEWS

"I know people in town, and so I do my part by talking to people -- people from different churches or not from churches," Morton said.

Cowles' group has distributed 5,500 Bibles to the Philippines and helped create vacation Bible schools for Filipinos. Morton is gathering prom dresses for Filipino girls to wear at Seeds of Dignity's "Night to Shine" dance in February.

Seeds of Dignity also helps impoverished Filipinos by providing motorized boats for fishing and transportation, as well as bicycle taxis, known as "putputs" locally, to Filipino families.

While the 501(c)(3) not-for-profit agency works with less funding than most organizations, the organization makes its impact by partnering with other faith-based charities.

In Davao City, Philippines, the organization works with the Tebow CURE Hospital to help provide orthopedic services for Filipinos. The hospital, a joint operation between the Tim Tebow Foundation and CURE International, fits Filipinos with prosthetic limbs and performs orthopedic surgeries for impoverished Filipino families.

Cowles shared testimonials from his experiences with the hospital.

Claudia lost a leg in a fire when she was 1. As a teen, she hitchhiked to Davao City where she was fitted with a prosthetic limb and received a 500-peso scholarship from Seeds of Dignity.

Shelley, a 4-year-old girl, traveled seven hours with her grandmother, and today will begin the process of being fit with a prosthetic limb.

For most of these families, the hospital is anywhere from two to nine hours away from their homes.

Seeds of Dignity plays their part in the aid effort by providing vehicles for such transport. One such vehicle, an L300 Mitsubishi, was donated to the organization by St. Andrew Lutheran Church in Cape Girardeau.

Travel fears have grown in parts of the Philippines as the Islamic State's presence has increased after the extremist group was driven out of the Middle East.

Other complications arose after a recent earthquake disabled the main power grid near Seeds of Dignity's Mindanao ministry.

Through all this, Cowles continues to serve the region. Cowles said his group expresses dignity and treats Filipino families like they would their own families.

In the audience, Pat Fanger attested to Cowles' work as she held her half-Filipino grandson, Peter.

"At one point my husband said, 'Is it possible we could be walking with an angel?'" Fanger said. "He's so calm. He's so one with his walk. He's passionate with what he's doing, and if he thinks that's what God asked him to do, he's going to do it."

bmatthews@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3625