HAPAG-ASA: Pamaskong Salu-Salo para sa mga Bata

Christmas for Filipino families will not be complete without sharing a feast, no matter how meager or grand it may be.  Some are fortunate they get to celebrate it with an entire table filled with food, while some are contented to share what little they have on the table, and, sadly, others have none at all.

Every Christmas HAPAG-ASA: Pamaskong Salu-Salo para sa mga Bata is held at Village East in Cainta, Rizal where children are invited and gathered together to enjoy a Christmas party.  This year we'll have a chance again to share our blessings to 500 kids and their families.  A party will be put together  for the kids where they will share a hearty meal, and food gift bags will be given as presents for them to take home to share with their families.  This is the 11th year that this Christmas salu-salo will take place in this village.

This year's HAPAG-ASA will be held on Sunday, December 18, 2:00 PM at  Village East, Phase 1, Covered Court, in front of Holy Trinity Parish Church.

You can be part of this by pitching in canned goods to help fill up the gift  bags for the children and their families. These gift bags will contain 2 kilos of rice and canned goods which you might be willing to share. A little help from you would mean so much to these children, and will surely make their Christmas a merrier one.

If you would like to share your blessings, you may get in touch with the organizers:

Mae -  0917-8082238

Jonas - 0928-3160462

This initiative was started by the Vegamora family in 2004, and now has been a joint project by the family, their parish, and the Hapag-asa feeding program for years.

Gift bags will be packed on Friday, December. 16 at #14 Fiat St., Village East, Cainta, Rizal.

Christmas is never just about the food or the wassailing or the material grandness of it. It is always about love and sharing and hope.  Let's keep this true, and shower others with the blessings that each of us has been gifted with. ♥

Smile of a Child: Every child deserves a toy

For a child, a toy isn't just a toy.  It is his source of creativity, imagination, social skills, childhood.
Play is the business of childhood. We always say, it is every child's right to play... it is because every child holds the right to be a child.

All children are kids, but not all are fortunate enough to get the dolls and cars and trains they have always wanted.  Some children are already happy with the old, beaten, handed-down toys which makes them already lucky if they get.  Some children do not even have the luxury to play and experience childhood.

This Christmas, Smile of a Child, a non-profit initiative brought here in Philippines will be launching a program to raise toy pledges for 1,000 kids. Smile Of A Child was conceived believing that every child deserves a toy.

This year's program launch will have its high kick-off point on Saturday, December 10, 2011, 9PM at Tiendesitas Food Court Stage, Pasig City with live performances from The Company, Filipino Tenors, The Bloomfields and many more!

Join us as we celebrate the spirit of love this Christmas. Hope to see you there!!!

I sincerely hope you can pledge for some toys, and be part of this small endeavour for the kids.
For every P50 that you will pledge, one child gets a toy this Christmas.  Most of the toys will be flown to Mindanao to help alleviate the trauma experienced by the Badjao kids there.

For inquiries and sponsorship, you may send me a message at mail@moniquedejesus.com, or contact:
Howard Choa, Sponsorship Committee Head
0917 890 8968

Event concept created by: Mer-Ben Tiu
Thanks Benz!

A Sweet Funtastic Christmas for the PGH Diabetic Kids

One of my professors in grad school at DLSU Manila, Lysa Sanchez, is a diabetic herself and has been Insulin-dependent for 16 years now, and she certainly knows how expensive Insulin and other diabetic supplies are. So this December, marking the 16th year of her being Insulin-dependent and her birthday month, she and her co-December birthday celebrant Charm Tolentino from Makati Feast is organizing an outreach event for the benefit of the less fortunate Diabetic kids of Philippine General Hospital.

Photo from:  life.familyeducation.com

This event aims to raise funds to be able to grant each of the 50 children beneficiaries a minimum of one month  insulin and other diabetic supplies for Christmas.  Each child needs at least P3,000 for a month's supply.

Date: Dec 11, 2011 (Sunday)

Time: 1:30-4:00 PM

Place: PGH Out Patient Dept Function Room 

Any form of support whether in cash or in kind will be very much appreciated.
You may get in touch with Lysa Sanchez at:

09209270334
09228264615
lysa.sanchez@gmail.com

This Christmas let us help in providing these children what they really need. Let this be a memorable one for them.♥

Keeping The Dream Alive: Helping PGH babies stay alive

Keeping the Dream Alive is a fundraising campaign of the Business Communication Class S07 of the Ateneo Graduate School of Business with CHILD Foundation Inc. to generate P1.6M for the purchase of much needed medical equipment in the wards, specifically, incubators and pediatric beds.

The PGH has only three working incubators to serve over a thousand prematurely born and other critically ill babies admitted yearly to the general wards. In a desperate attempt to keep the babies warm and alive, non-functioning incubators are used with heat coming from gooseneck lamps. Furthermore, the current beds at the pediatric wards do not have the necessary safety railings to protect the patients from falling and there have been cases of bed-related accidents.

These children need your help. Your donation can save not just one, but thousands of lives, during the years these hospital beds and incubators will be used.

These babies from less fortunate families are knocking on your hearts to help them stay alive for a chance to experience the beauty of life and live their dreams. To know more about this project and to send a donation, click here.

How to Send Help to Typhoon Pedring Victims?

Another typhoon has devastated and claimed the lives of many of our fellow Filipinos. Do you still have your house intact, and your appliances, and clothes and shoes and never had an inconvenience on your life's routine aside from the temporary power interruption?  You're truly blessed. Please do send donations to those whose lives were devastated by the typhoon.

One of the evacuation centers
Photo from Reuters

You can send donations through the following:

Philippine Red Cross

Philippines Red Cross is appealing for your support to be able to continue to provide food, non-food items and services to the most vulnerable in the hardest hit cities and provinces. Through your generosity, PRC can stand prepared for the onslaught of disasters.  You can send donations thru PayDollar, bank deposit, SMS and G-Cash. Click here for details.

Groupon Beeconomic

Are you a groupon addict?  Now here's a really good deal worth buying. You can also send donations to Philippine Red Cross by buying groupon vouchers at Beeconomic.  One voucher costs P100. Buy as many as you want.  ALL proceeds will go to PRC for the typhoon victims.  Click here to see more details.

Gawad Kalinga

Gawad Kalinga needs food and water for the 2,000 families in Baseco, Tondo. To donate, call 0916 437 9941 or drop them off at Gawad Kalinga Headquarters in #212 Haig st., Brgy. Daang Bakal, Mandaluyong City.

Citizens' Disaster Response Center

You can also join CDRC in responding to the needs of the typhoon victims by donating cash or the following:

• Food provision: rice and sardines
• Potable drinking water
• Water containers

Donations for the affected families may be sent through the Citizens’ Disaster Response Center at 72-A Times St., West Triangle Homes, Quezon City, Philippines. Concerned individuals and donors can easily reach us at (632) 929-9822 / (632) 929-9820 or info@cdrc-phil.com. You may also deposit your donations to their bank accounts, please click here to see bank account details.

De La Salle University's SAGIP METRO 2

SAGIP METRO 2 is DLSU Manila's relief operation to address the immediate needs of the typhoon victims.  Partner-communities from Baseco, San Mateo, Novotas, Malabon, Lian and Bagac are the priority beneficiaries.   The Citizen Disaster Response Network (CDRN) released a standard list of suggested relief goods consisting of the following as food items– rice, sugar, dried fish, mung beans, sardines, cooking oil, salt; and as non-food items -  laundry soap, cooking utensils, mats, water containers, clothing and plastic sheets/tarps.  Through the efforts of the University Student Government, drop boxes have been conveniently stationed in different school gates for these. Cash donations can be forwarded to the Accounting Office. Click here to read the announcement from the Vice Chancellor for La Sallian Mission and Alumni Relations.

I know there are lots of other organizations doing their part in helping alleviate the conditions of the Typhoon Pedring victims.  If there are other relief operations you want to be posted here, please send me an email at mail@moniquedejesus.com.

Photo from GMA News

Let us help our fellow Filipinos affected by this disaster to start over and get their lives back to normal.  We are blessed ours remained the way it is after the typhoon. ♥

Reaching Out On Higher Ground: An Outreach Climb

April 30 this year, a group of young philanthropists went up north to give out school supplies to the children of Lusod Elementary School in Benguet.  

Getting there is no joke as upon reaching Baguio the volunteer mountaineers faced a 6-hour assault to Mt.Pulag, and then 15 hours going down via Tawangan trail.  From Tawangan Village the group went on a 3-hour ride via rough road before finally reaching Lusod Elementary School.

These things they gave out weren't just donations, but gifts of knowledge to help the school in facilitating learning of the students.  These presents surely meant a lot to the kids and their future.  It's so inspiring how these young people prove that their generation isn't all about partying, having fun, and going on vacations to make the most out of their youth while it last. They also use their energy and love for outdoors to reach out to and help the communities which can be hardly reached by most outreach programs. These mountaineers are mostly from Take5Hikers and Singles for Christ.

Are you one of them who would go to great lengths to paint a smile on the face of a  kid living in a place far from convenience, really far from where you live? Mountaineers who are willing to join these outreach climbs may contact Erwin Claver at 0918 608 7191. You may also send donations - in the form of school and grocery supplies and/or cash. Their next outreach climb would be I ROCK: I Reach Out on Christmas for Kids. It's a pre-Christmas outreach climb happening on November 26, 2011 to send some love to the kids of Tawangan Elementary School in Kabayan, Benguet.  Would you like to send your love too? Click here for more details. ♥

I ROCK: A Pre-Christmas Outreach Climb for Kids

I ROCK (I Reach Out on Christmas for Kids) is a pre-Christmas outreach climb to send some love to the kids of Tawangan Elementary School in Kabayan, Benguet.  These children are just some of those many kids in the country who trek a long and difficult path just to go to school.  You can send school supplies, toys, groceries, and cash as an early Christmas present to these children.  Volunteers willing to join the climb are most welcome.

Actual climb will happen on November 26, 2011.

For donations, you can drop a comment or send me an email at mail@moniquedejesus.com.

To join the climb and for more details, click here to visit the event page. ♥

Where Wearing Slippers is a Luxury

Many of us have several pairs of shoes.  We take pride in them, take care of them, cherish them with all our hearts.  Wearing footwear is, of course, nothing but a normal thing to us everyday.  We worry about things we thought are the biggest problems in the world while we our comfortably being protected by our footwear and carry us wherever we need to go.  

But have you ever thought of those children who do not own even a single pair of the cheapest slippers?  They have to go trekking for hours and even cross a river just to go to school to attend a class for that day - barefoot.  Even wearing slippers is a luxury for them.  It is something they just cannot afford.  I was deeply concerned by a documentary by Howie Severino about people like these.

A pair of slippers may not mean anything to us.  It may be just something that we wear when we go to the bathroom, or do the laundry.  But a pair would go a long way for these people who are not as blessed as we are.  A pair of slippers will help them work for their family, or go to school in pursuit of their dreams.  It will help them go on with life with their feet not scratching the rough ground with every stride to make it through the day. A pair would mean a lot.


Do you want to send them some love and donate slippers?
You can email feedback@gmanews.tv to find out how to send some. ♥