Cindy’s salon owner turns family loss into service abroad

After the death of her mother in early 2024, Cindy Siciliano decided she wanted to take on a service project in the Philippines, where her mom was born, to honor her mother’s memory.

With the support of the Rotary Club of Tiburon Sunset, of which she’s a member, Siciliano visited Samal, an island roughly 609 miles southeast of the capital, Manila, in November 2024, donating backpacks with school supplies and more than 100 10-pound bags of rice to families, while treating local kids to ice cream.

The experience left a lasting impression on Siciliano, who owns Cindy’s Hair Studio on Tiburon Boulevard.

“It’s really touching, you feel like, ‘Wow, we’re so spoiled here,’” she says. “When I saw the kids get just so excited about getting ice cream in line, … you wouldn’t see kids in America jumping up for joy for an ice cream cone like that.”

The Mill Valley resident is now aiming to raise $10,000 by early June ahead of another planned humanitarian trip to the Philippines in November. The money will go toward supporting 400 students with developmental disabilities on Samal.

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