Jazz horn player Chuck Mangione, best known for his 1977 jazz-pop hit "Feels So Good," died July 22 at age 84. Over his career, Mangione released more than 30 albums, appeared in television shows including a recurring role on "King of the Hill," and earned international acclaim for his smooth, melodic flugelhorn sound.

But for Mona Lisa Yuchengco, founder of the nonprofit Philippine International Aid (PIA), Mangione’s legacy extended far beyond music. Writing for the website Positively Filipino, Yuchengco recalled how the musician’s generosity helped launch her organization in 1986, which has since provided educational assistance to about 70,000 disadvantaged children in the Philippines.

“Only a handful of people knew that Chuck Mangione was instrumental in helping me start PIA,” Yuchengco wrote.

Following the 1986 People Power Revolution, Yuchengco visited Manila and met Good Shepherd nun Sr. Myrna Tacardon at Caritas Manila. There, she learned about the growing problem of child prostitution, with victims as young as four years old.

Sr. Myrna’s goal was to build a rehabilitation center for these children, a $30,000 project that Yuchengco helped fundraise for in the Bay Area. She also wanted the issue to gain wider attention.

With advertising executive Barbara “Tweetums” Gonzalez, Yuchengco created a slide presentation using photos provided by Sr. Myrna set to Mangione’s song “Look to the Children.” To secure permission, she and her team met the musician backstage after his performance at San Francisco’s Fairmont Hotel.

“We told him about the plight of the abused children and played the slides and music for him,” she wrote. “After, he nodded and said, ‘Yes, you can use it.’”

The presentation’s emotional impact helped propel PIA’s early work. At a Filipino American conference in Los Angeles, an unexpected opening in the program allowed Yuchengco to show the slides to more than 1,000 attendees. “People couldn’t stop talking about the children and many came to me asking how they could help,” she said.

“Thank you, Chuck Mangione, for your sensitivity and generosity in helping the children,” Yuchengco wrote. “Your music propelled us to heights we didn’t think was possible. On behalf of me and the children, may you rest in peace.”

You can listen to a live recording of Mangione’s “Look to the Children” below: