Thanks once again to my friend, Anton, for supporting Raising Hope.
Website: The Carewell Community
Previous Entry: New Balance “Raising Hope” Activity - October 5, 2007
From my friend, Maja Olivares Co
To our valued friends…
In these past years of consistent growth, the Philippine Youth Symphonic Band (PYSB) has been fueled by affirmation from both our audiences and our generous benefactors like yourself.
In response, we have dreamed up new creative ways to keep the joy of Filipino music alive.
We have a dream and a plan to make it happen. With the help of several solo artists we will reintroduce today’s Filipino children to our rich heritage of folksongs. By resetting familiar “play songs” into reggae, jazz, latin, pop and rock arrangements our well loved ditties like Sitsiritsit/Leron-Leron Sinta, Sarungbanggi, Dandansoy and Tongtongtongtong Pakitong/Penpen De Sarapen will be refreshed. They will be fun again. They will reclaim their place in our children’s memory. Come and hear the PYSB with May Bayot!
LARO!… Child’s Play
October 17, 2008 (Friday), 6:30 P.M.
Rockwell Tent Power Plant Mall,
Ticket Prices: P2,500, P2,000, P1,500, P1,000
For Ticket Information and Children’s/Pet Furniture Auction details please call Marissa: 0927-3910762
Ticket also available at Ticketworld: 891-9999
THE YOUNG MUSICIANS DEVELOPMENT ORGANIZATION (YMDO)
Previous Entry: Philippine Youth Symphonic Band Jazz Holiday Concert 2007
For the last few years my friend Robert Velhagen has been supporting the Light House Foundations children’s feeding project in Payatas.
The Lighthouse Foundation is run by retired Judge Lore Veneration. Everyday he feeds hundreds of needy children in Payatas. He offers free pre-school education at the dumpsite. The children come in to eat and get educated for FREE. Not only is he saving the lives of these children, he is also helping provide them with a bright future.
A P1,500 donation provides the foundation with a 5lb. bag of a special super food that was specifically formulated to target the effects of malnutrition. The super food has made all the difference in the health of these children.
If you have been looking for a way to help, then this may be the avenue for you. You may not have the time to feed the children, but let’s help those that do.
If you wish to donate you can call Robert at 0918-8811181. Any amount will help
Here is an idea that adds a new dimension to giving. This is likely not a novel approach, but, Heart-2-Heart would like to share it. Thank you to my cousin, Ana, ( who would like to always be anonymous ) for always sharing her ideas and great acts of love.
Thoughtfully chosen and assembled care packages for our loved ones, especially those separated from us in distance, is always a fun endeavour made more heart-warming when well and happily received.
Right after this year’s devastating monsoon in Myanmar and the tragic earthquake in Sichuan, a friend, who lives in a country which has one of the most developed economies in Asia, shared that she already had donor fatigue. Thus, when the typhoon Frank hit the Philippines badly, she said that she really had little else to give.
When asked for my thoughts, I shared that if one were to count one’s blessings often, there should be little room for such weariness. When one lives fairly comfortably in a third-world country such as this, and, sees the disadvantaged everywhere, how can one not develop a grateful heart? How can one not be thankful for the blessings of all the basics and then some?
More than just giving, I believe that we should not only share actual goods, but, pass on intangible dignity as well. More often the latter task is more difficult and more personal than the former.
Too often, I have seen hastily assembled packages for charity which contain very decent items, but, are also mixed with stained, soiled and very old items which would be of little use to others. When one has lost much, receiving a tattered or dirty item does not do much to lift one’s spirits.
Rather, when one has little or has been able to recover few possessions, receiving carefully chosen items in good condition does wonders for the soul of the person who has survived adversity. Having heard from those who are part of organizations which distribute goods, I have been told that the joy that decent, especially packaged items elicit is immeasurable.
Sadly, calamities usually translate into numerous beneficiaries, and, the situation entails them having to weed through piles of heaped, donated goods to find something appropriate for them and their families. Thus, if we can do our part to carefully choose, package and label the items, a little extra effort helps take the edge off an already stressful situation. When one is down and out, the last thing that one needs to feel is that he or she has to be reduced to scavenging.
Taking into consideration the fact that the goods have to travel and all the manhandling before it gets to the beneficiaries, and, although the extra packaging is not great for the environment, packaging does help preserve the cleanliness of items, and, the presentation makes the gift all the more special. In essence, instead of just throwing items into a box for giving, taking the extra steps is like gift-wrapping each every one with one’s good intentions.
Whenever I am given cause to share, I not only physically spring clean, but, I also go through a mental exercise for each item. (That is why this is an activity that takes me months to complete!) I take each item out of its storage space, and, I think as to whether it will make someone happier than it makes me. What might be of some value to me might be of infinitely more value to someone else.
As a concrete example, I have given several bags of clothing anonymously to a community of teenaged orphaned girls. From a distance, I am regularly able to observe that pieces that I might have used only once or twice before are now being worn over and over by different girls. What were just extra pieces of clothing to me are so well used and happily worn by far more than just one person.
It is a privilege to me that in this particular case, I am allowed to see the donations at work. However, one hand should not really know what the other one is doing, and, this kind of care should be taken whether one ever gets to see the beneficiary or not.
If we can give dignity more than just giving goods and extras, the process of sharing becomes more rewarding for the receiver and the giver.
As Longfellow wrote, “Into each life some rain must fall.” Who ever knows when the once giver is forced to become a receiver by circumstance?
Previous Entry: Passion for Garbage March 22, 2007
Thanks to my cousin, Ana, for sharing this video with me. I literally lost my apetite watching the video. But it is reality.
One of the things I am very particular about with my kids in the dinner table - it is making sure that they finish everything on their plate. They should only order or get what they can finish. They have to finish every grain of rice on their plate. So I was very happy when my eldest son told me that they showed this video to the students in his school, Beacon. It reinforces what I am trying to teach them, though I know I still have to repeat myself every time, I will do it and do it until they understand what i am trying to tell them and the importance of not wasting food as there are many other people and children in the world that are starving. For those who have not seen this yet, take time out to watch it…
My cousin, Ana, makes sure that her garbage is clean. She takes time out to wash it and put them in proper bags. Visit my previous entry last March 22. This was a very popular entry in my website. Thank you Ana for always sharing with us your kind deeds and making us open our eyes and taking the small deeds seriously…small deeds that actually make a difference in other people’s lives.
Previous Entry: Passion for Garbage March 22, 2007
Heart2Heart was at Tessa’s house at 7:30 am and there were already quite a number of people going through the many things that Tessa had for sale. This is one of the most organized Garage sales I have ever been to.
1.) All the items were properly sorted by category
2.) Most of the items had price tags
3.) They had receipts to give to the customers
4.) There were guards by the gate to check all the people going out and checking the items with the receipt
5.) There were people in charge of the different responsibilities - pricing, cashiering, guarding, etc etc.
Thank you to Tessa for generously sharing her blessings. She has a lot of blessings, a lot things for herself but she generously gives them away too….. for charity. Popsie was telling her to send down more toys since the toy department was running out and the next thing you knew, she sent down more toys :-)
As soon as Tessa came down to greet everyone and check on the sale, the ambience of the whole event changed. She just has this personality that is so alive and fun. Then she brought down her Ipod and put some music! That was so cool! A garage sale with music! :-) She is just as colorful as the many things that she had in the garage sale.
Being the Sea Princess, she had some fish decorations hanging in her tents…
Some friends of Heart2Heart came over and cousins of Tessa stopped by before their saturday biking routine…
Tessa’s husband, Dennis
Popsie seemed to be the head honcho of everything. I found her so amusing as she would talk to the customers and try to explain not to bargain so much as the proceeds would go to the “mga batang may bulate.” She is so funny! Then she was the one responsible for placing the price tags on the items the day before
All proceeds go to the National Orthopedic Hospital - psychiatric ward for kids. They will buy nebulizers, medicines and pediatric wheelchairs. Also, the proceeds to go to around one thousand children in Roxas City, Capiz for deworming.
Marlon was the one in charge of pricing the items especially the clothes, gowns, shoes and accessories of Tessa
I was surprised to see my bootcamp classmate Girlie. She is part of batch ‘81 and was in charge of the first shift. She was the cashier listing down all the items in the receipt and accepting payments. It was a tough job as the lines were long very early in the morning.
Tessa had any many things to choose from, not only her fashion items that she is known for. There were home items, picture frames ( with her photos in them ), children’s clothes, DVDs, some electronic items, sofas, chairs, and toys.
Some of the customers of course wanted to have a picture with the celebrity
Time to shop again and then next year maybe you will have PART2! Thanks Tessa for your generosity. I am sure you were attached to many of your things that had sentimental value to you, but yet you willingly shared them with others who will benefit from them. You will surely be helping a lot of children. Thanks also to Assumption batch ‘81 for spearheading the event! What a great idea!
Habitat for Humanity Philippines is a nonprofit, Christian housing ministry that works both to eliminate poverty housing and to make adequate housing a matter of conscience and action.
“Jesus was a carpenter, and a builder. Through Habitat, we have been privileged to become builders, too, not only of houses, but of families, lives and hope.” - Former US President Jimmy Carter
Habitat for Humanity International was founded in 1976 by Millard Fuller and his wife Linda. Its headquarters is located in Americus, Georgia, USA. Today, it has a presence in nearly 100 countries and territories, and has built more than 175,000 houses, providing nearly 900,000 people in more than 3,000 communities with safe, decent, affordable shelter.
In the Philippines, the first local affiliates of Habitat for Humanity International were established in 1988. Today, Habitat for Humanity Philippines has built more than 15,000 houses in more than 100 communities, and has a presence in 20 provinces and 29 cities with 25 affiliates and 21 satellites.
website: Habitat for Humanity
From my cousin, Ana 
allow me to share a spring cleaning idea through which you can also help the less fortunate. most of us lament the state of the philippine education system. one of the reasons being that there is such poor access to quality books. my very generous, socially minded cousin martin recently introduced me to the acts of hope for the nation (ahon) foundation. ahon has set a goal of collection one million books for donation to public elementary schools, particularly those in depressed areas. the books need not be new at all. ahon will take almost any type of book, new or old.(they should be intact, of course.) it can even arrange pick-up of your donations. thus, if you are cleaning up around the house, you might want to consider ahon as a beneficiary for your no longer needed reading materials.for those of you who have children, this might be a good pre-summer activity to make the shelves clear for summer reading. maybe the free shelves are needed for the psp or the wii? 
:) :)
from some other kind-hearted friends abroad, i got the idea that since so many of them shop very energetically whilst here, they arrive in manila with extra suitcases filled with toys, books and clothes to donate when they arrive. they then go back home with the same luggage filled with all their finds. ahon also has an adopt a library and a scholarship programme through “pathways”, a related organization. more details on the scholarship programme below. for those who are in the position to share even more, “pathways” is a most worthy endeavour.
if you would like to contact ahon, its contact details are as follows:
3rd floor, topy’s place, industria corner economia streets bagumbayan 1100 quezon city, metro manila phone: (02) 683-0262, local 106 or 109 email: ahonfoundation@gmail.com blog site: www.ahonfoundation.blogspot.com donating old books is such an easy way to share. if you are interested in learning about the pathways scholarship programme, these are the contact details:
contact person: solvie nubla
phone: (02) 426-6001, locals 4048 and 4049
e-mail: info.pathways@gmail.com
website: http://www.pathwaysphilippines.org
