You should expect us to do great things, too,” says 19-year-old TV spokesperson and budding sports broadcaster Alec Cabacungan.

Story Summary He now plays wheelchair sports, appears on television and attends college. He embodies the hope and confidence families and children find at Shriners Hospitals for Children.

With support from Shriners Children's, Alec is an active teenager pursuing his goal to become a sports anchor and broadcaster. He's interviewed prospects during NFL Draft events and appeared on the NFL Network during the East-West Shrine Bowl.

On National Superhero Day 2023, the Baskin-Robbins Joy in Childhood Foundation surprised and celebrated Sebastian, a patient and local superhero at Shriners Children's Southern California, as its newest Pint-Sized Hero! Sebastian is a 14-year-old who was diagnosed with osteogenesis imperfecta when he was an infant.

Alec, a patient of Shriners Hospitals for Children - Chicago, has become a popular television star and has captured the hearts of many with his adorable smile and charming personality. The Filipino American lives in the suburbs of Chicago, and is quite the active teenager.

Shriners have stepped forward in recent years to complain about improprieties at some of the 191 local temples affiliated with the Shrine, including the commingling of charitable and noncharitable assets and the disappearance of money raised for the hospitals.

"It'll be with me for my life. I'll live with it until I die." That's what brought Cabacungan to Shriners in the first place – a rare genetic disorder called Osteogenesis Imperfecta, better known as brittle bone disease. His parents, Alma and Gill, got the news before he was born.

American Shriners International, formally known as the Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine (AAONMS), is an American Masonic society established in 1870 and is headquartered in Tampa, Florida.

Despite its Arabic theme, the Shrine is in no way connected to Islam. It is a men's fraternity rather than a religion or religious group. Its only religious requirement is indirect: all Shriners must be Masons, and petitioners to Freemasonry must profess a belief in a Supreme Being.

Hollywood is also home to some famous Shriners. “Gone with the Wind” actor Clark Gable and the famous Western actor John Wayne were both members of the Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. Musicians Count Basie, Duke Ellington and Johnny Cash all call themselves Shriners as well.

The Founding of the Fraternity Fleming, M.D., and William J. “Billy” Florence, a well-known actor, founded Shriners International in 1872. Legend has it that Florence was inspired while attending an Arabian-themed party in Marseilles, France, during a time when the mystique of the near East was fashionable worldwide.

Shriners are distinguished by an enjoyment of life in the interest of philanthropy. The approximately 525,000 member organization has a buoyant philosophy which has been expressed as "Pleasure without intemperance, hospitality without rudeness and jollity without coarseness." Shriners are men who enjoy life.