Technical Sponsors

This initiative would not have been successful if not for the help these people provided me during the entire preparation period, up until gift-giving day. They are:  

1. The Bag Lady at Baclaran. Unfortunately I was not able to get her name, but she gave me an additional php20 discount per bag without further prodding from me, when she heard where the bags were destined for. I bought 15 backpacks from her.

2. Ate Joji from the online store where I bought the second batch of bags. They agreed to fast track my order and process it same day - on a Friday no less. Ate Joji met me off LRT Abad Santos where she handed me the bags I purchased online.

3. The driver of the Xavierville Taxi I took from home to the airport in Manila. He loaded up all my bags and agreed to a side trip at PAL Cargo. He also waited for me while I took care of the paper works for sending the box via air cargo. From the cargo offices, we then went to the departures area at Terminal 2. 

4. PAL check-in attendant at Terminal 2. I had a 12-kilo check in baggage on a 10-kilo allowance, and a 9-kilo rolling carry-on case on a 7-kilo allowance. All in all, 4 kilos excess, but the lady at the counter did not charge me anything. 

5. PAL steward on-board the flight. I asked for paracetamol for my headache, having been out in the sun, then into an air-conditioned room, then back out in the sun again, and back into an air-conditioned room once more. Add the fact that I waited about 3 hours for my flight. After giving me the paracetamol and the inevitable paper works that come with dispensing medicine to a passenger inflight, he also asked and made sure I was okay and that I did not need further help when we arrive in Silay. He assured me that they can have a medical crew available to assist me if required, to which I said I just needed the paracetamol, and to close my eyes for a few minutes, and I should be good.

6. My cousin Bong. He agreed to fetch me at the Bacolod-Silay airport on account that I had a lot of luggage with me this trip. I normally just take the shuttle from the airport to downtown Bacolod. 

7. My sister-in-law Susan. She gave me tips on where to find the most affordable stuff, and she also helped to purchase the second batch of notebooks when I couldn't go downtown to do it myself. Susan also agreed to let her son, my beloved 4-year old nephew CJ, join me during the gift-giving day.

8. Susan's younger sister, Zyra. Both Susan and Zyra helped to remove price tags from all items purchased. Zyra also helped to arrange the supplies and remove torn dust jackets off the children's books purchased from Manila. 

9. My cousin's husband Niel. Though he did not go with us, he helped to load up our care packages into the trunk and backseat of the car. 

10. My cousin Torka, for letting her first born Basty, join me during gift-giving day. 

11. Amie M and Gwen, social workers from DSSD Bacolod. Amie was the one who initially coordinated with the nuns about this project. But since Amie is assigned to another facility and her hands were already full, she got me in touch with Gwen, who is the one actually assigned to the home. Gwen answered all my many questions, and also provided me the list of supplies that the kids needed, as well as their names, ages and grade levels. Armed with this data, I was able to personalize the contents of each care package, at least according to gender and grade level.

12. CJ and Basty. Though only toddlers (CJ is 4 while Basty is 4 1/2 years old), they joined me during gift-giving, and gamely toured the place with us, with the delight of kids seeing a place for the first time. Most importantly, they were my little elves - I called out the names of the kids, and either CJ or Basty would actually hand over the package to the kids. When the kids said thank you, they also gamely answered, welcome! I hope that both of them will remember the activity with fondness, and maybe, continue the work years from now.

Senor Sto. Nino Homes

Sharing pictures of the orphanage run by the Blessed Virgin Missionaries of Carmel, led by their directress, Sister Minviluz. The home is located in Puentevella Subdivision, Taculing, Bacolod City:

 

 Front Garden

 Chapel

 Chapel

 Inner courtyard, as seen from the office

 View of the second floor, as seen from the Nursery

 View of the Girl's Dormitory

 Library

 

 Directly ahead is the Sister's Quarters

 

View of the Nursery as seen from the second floor

 

Girl's Dorm

 Library cum Play Area

 Shelves are full of donated books

Donated toys, with CJ and Basty going around and looking at everything

The facility is fairly new, established only in the early 2000's on a lot and building donated by someone who would rather remain anonymous. Even their service, a white van, is also donated. Sister Minviluz very kindly took us on a tour of the facility, after we have signed the guest book. 

On the ground floor, they have the chapel off the front yard, the office, nursery, refectory, boy's dorm and laundry area. The building is u-shaped, which created an inner courtyard where children can play or hold other activities. On the second floor, they have the sister's quarters, an infirmary for the sick, the library cum play area and the girl's dorm.

The grounds are well-kept and the kids are well-behaved. The older ones take care of the younger kids. They take turns eating their meals, with the youngest ones eating first. They're a curious bunch, and welcoming, too! When we arrived, Sister Cherry asked the older ones to help unload our things from the car, and it was funny to see them jostling for space, and arguing that it was their turn to carry the packages to the office. We unloaded the car very quickly, what with so many helping hands available that time.

There is no government subsidy and they get by purely through donations from generous souls. They have a number of regular donors as well as many who give when they can. Some schools and organizations also hold outreach programs at the center. 

According to the directress, they take care of abandoned children (they took in a 3-day old abandoned baby; the baby is now about 2 years old), as well as children from problematic families. It is a co-ed facility and at the moment, they have about 27 schoolkids in residence (the other 3 in our 30 are children of the laundress, cook and driver), and a few others who do not go to school yet - all ranging in age from less than a year old to 12 years old. 

The kids go to school at Queen of Peace, a small private school run by the same congregation running the home. Three of the sisters, including the directress Sister Minviluz, also teach at the school. 

Often, when the parents of the kids are able to recover and support the family, the kids are returned to the parents. If not, when the kids reach their teens, they are turned over either to the Girl's or Boy's Home.

Acknowledging Our Sponsors

Days before, when I confirmed that we had reached 30 sponsors, I immediately prepared the tags that would go with our packages.

All our packages had tags like this, albeit only first names of the donors were shared. For others, pseudonyms were used, as most of our sponsors would rather remain anonymous. Nevertheless, anonymous or not, I would like to thank our very generous sponsors from the Philipppines, US and Canada for supporting this project. Without you, this would not have pushed through.

One thing I would like to point out, and of which I am very proud of, is that all our sponsors ARE from Bacolod. They were either born here, studied here, and are working here. When I shared this tidbit with Sister Minviluz, she was very happy and proud to hear that, and said, it's good that you are going back to your roots - meaning that we chose to help out the kids in Bacolod rather than from some other places. It speaks well of the characters, as well as upbringing of the sponsors. #sniff sniff

I have received a lot of good words for doing this project, but truth be told,I was unemployed when I started working on this project in May, and so I had no monetary contributions to this project. All I did was contribute my time and effort in coordinating this project. All the kudos, the good words, the appreciation should be directed to our sponsors who have shared their hard-earned funds to support this project and buy all those supplies for the kids.

I may be the "face" of this project, but behind the face are some very generous donors, which, without their support, 30 kids would not be very happy as they were last Friday, when we finally turned over the packages to them.

My apologies if I cannot share with the general public pictures of the actual gift-giving. I promised Sister Minviluz I will only share the kids' pictures with the sponsors via private messages, and would not publish them to the general public, for the kids' security.

The kids sang a "thank you" song last Friday; unfortunately I was not able to video tape it. Suffice to say that the kids were very happy to receive your care packages!

Transportation Sponsor

Days before gift-giving day, we had already lined up transportation sponsor; unfortunately a day before, there was a conflict in schedule, and so we were left with a car with no driver, lol. Might need to take up driving seriously now, hehehe.

Anyway, we needed to come up with an alternate sponsor immediately. Only one person came into my mind and so I texted her right away. Turned out she was off duty that day, and readily agreed to drive us to the home, packages and all.

So we crammed everything into the trunk and backseat of this car (plates blurred for security reasons). The white van coming up the drive is the home's service, also generously donated by an anonymous donor.

I would like to thank our generous transportation sponsor, my cousin Torka (who was our designated driver as well), her husband Niel and their kids, Bastycoy and Baby Matt Daniel, fondly called Santino.

In the picture, from L-R: me, Sister Cherry, Sister Minviluz (Directress), my nephew CJ in orange shirt, Basty in striped shirt, my cousin Torka and Baby Santino.

Imee's generosity did not end there. She also sponsored two orders of kansi from Sharyn's for lunch, which we brought and ate at home. Thank you very much, Niel, Torka, Basty and Santino!

Putting Them All Together

With supplies complete, we are now ready to start preparing the packages. 

First off, we needed to remove all price tags and markings from everything. Next, we laid all supplies on the floor, and grouped them according to kind:

Our little boy went crazy at the sight of all these supplies, and had his heart set on the scissors, lol. In the end, we exchanged his own for the one he wanted: red scissors!

He also wanted to help! In the end, he was the one who counted out and handed me the items I needed to put into the bags and envelopes. He also helped to carry the completed packages from the floor and up to the large sofa. While it took longer with the little boy's "help", it was all worth it! 

Based on Gwen's recommendation, we only put one of each of several items into the bags and envelopes and compiled the rest and gave them as extra supplies. Gwen mentioned that when the children run out of supplies, all they have to do is go to their caretakers and ask for replenishment. This way, supplies are not wasted.  

Each bag or envelope contained supplies specific to the grade level of the kid. Even the bags were personalized: dark colored superhero and animal backpacks for pre-elementary boys, pink ones for the girls; sports bags in the appropriate color for the intermediate levels, and black tote bags for the girls. 

 

 

 

Assorted illustrated storybooks and a few science and history books were given to pre-elementary and elementary kids from Grades 1 to 3, while pocket dictionaries were provided to intermediate levels: 

 

Initially I thought of utilizing the bags already, by putting all supplies like pens, crayons, erases, writing pads and notebooks in the bags already. But after doing up a few, it turned out to be more bulky, and presented a challenge in pairing the plastic envelope with the appropriate bags, where we would have needed to prepare two labels per package. 

In the end, since the backpacks were small enough to fit the plastic envelopes, I decided to put everything into the plastic envelopes and just include the bag in the envelopes: less bulky, easier to track and carry. 

With everything all packaged up, we are now ready for distribution!

Shopping for Supplies

Public schools opened on June 3 while private schools started classes on June 10. With the kids going to Queen of Peace school, a small private school managed by the same nuns running the home, their classes start on June 10. Conferring with Gwen, we decided on Sunday, June 9, as the gift-giving day. However, some personal and family things came up that conflicted with the initial schedule, and so I called up Gwen again and moved the gift-giving to Friday, June 7. Unfortunately, Gwen will not be at the home that day as she was scheduled to be on duty at the provincial hospital. Nevertheless, we decided to push through with Friday, June 7. 

With my failed attempts to visit the home prior to the gift-giving, I only had Wednesday and Thursday to complete the purchase of all the supplies needed. Wearing rubber shoes (less stress on the feet plus protection from rain water on the streets) and armed with two large empty shopping bags, I made my way downtown!

Wednesday, First stop: Portia's Store on the corner of Gatuslao and San Sebastian Streets. It sells school supplies, toys, shoes, slippers, umbrellas, candies, housewares, gardenwares - practically anything and everything at very low low prices. The downside: poor ventilation that it felt like I was in the sauna the entire time I was there browsing the school supplies room. Add the fact that it was very humid that day, my shirt was plastered to my back with sweat.

My loot from Portia: reams of writing pads, intermediate papers, long and short bond papers, long and short brown envelopes, ballpens,pencils and crayons. They must have weighed about 10 kilograms. Good thing I  bought tote bags with me; it helped and made my purchases easier to carry than if they were placed on plastic bags. Just imagine me, walking through a drizzle down San Sebastian street, with my purse on my left shoulder, a big red tote bag filled with supplies on my right shoulder, while holding another bag in my left hand. I must have looked a sight with my many bags, shirt plastered on my back, and getting wet from the rain. 

I dropped by LBC San Sebastian, hoping that a cousin who works there would agree to watch the bags while I go to yet another store to purchase the other things on my list. Unfortunately, she was assigned to another branch that day and so I had no choice but to carry them with me to my next destination: Uni Top. 

Wednesday, Second stop: Uni Top, on the right of Araneta Street facing the public plaza, across from BPI main and the old city hall. It's like a department store / warehouse store selling clothes on the second floor, and school supplies, housewares, electrical and garden supplies, and everything else on the ground floor. The place was packed that day but good thing the school supplies were front and center, near the cash registers. 

My loot from Uni Top: writing and composition notebooks, watercolors and compasses, and pocket dictionaries. The notebooks alone must have weighed nearly 10 kilograms and since my two shopping bags were all used up already, I had no choice but to use plastic bags. 

Before going home, I dropped by a stall selling buko shake for some refreshment. Gathering my strength, I claimed my bags from the package counter and with my purse on my left shoulder, that big red tote on my right shoulder, another bag on my left hand, and the plastic bag-full of notebooks on my right hand, I crossed the street to Po's Marketing to ride the jeep home. Loaded with all my purchases, I miscalculated my seat that I must have pulled a muscle setting down those bags and sitting down at the same time. 

I must have been so thirsty I almost finished a liter of buko shake before the jeep even reached SM, lol. Overall, I felt like a weight lifter that day my legs turned to jelly. Good thing my sister-in-law was on hand to meet me when I alighted from the jeep at home, to lend a hand in bringing all those supplies into the house. 

My loot for the day: 

With my funds running low and not enough to prepare snacks for 30 kids plus about 12 support staff, I decided to use it to buy more notebooks instead. But because of all my lifting and carrying the day before, my arms still felt like jelly and I didn't feel like going downtown on Thursday. Good thing my sister-in-law was going anyway. I asked her to buy 75 more composition notebooks, which she did, at Uni City. Good thing as well, her father was downtown with the pick up, she asked him to bring the notebooks home. Good for her; she did not have to carry kilograms of notebooks, lol. What she got are below: 

Supplies complete, we are now ready to start preparing the care packages!

From Manila to Bacolod, and the Ocular Visit That Did Not Happen

I arrived in Bacolod on Monday, May 27 on the last PAL flight out of Manila, but before that, I had to drop by PAL Cargo. I only had 10 kilos baggage allowance on the flight, but all the supplies I had already bought came up to about 40 kilos. I was advised to have it shipped via airline cargo - instead of paying php200 per kilo on excess baggage.

The blue bag and the box contained our supplies. 

I was on constant communication Gwen (the social worker assigned to the home) before and after arriving in Bacolod. I wanted to be certain of the supplies the kids needed, as well as finalize the schedule of the ocular visit and gift-giving. We agreed on Friday, May 31 for the ocular, unfortunately I got caught in the rain the night before, and was not feeling well the next day that the ocular did not push through. I tried again on Tuesday the next week, but it was raining hard in downtown Bacolod that I had no choice but to go home. Sorry guys, the ocular visit did not push through.

*For others, especially friends coming from abroad and are destined for the province: if you have time before your flight to the province, drop off your luggage at either Cebu Pacific Cargo at the old domestic terminal (now also known as Terminal 4) or at PAL Cargo, near Terminal 2 (take a right instead of taking the ramp up to the departures area; PAL Cargo is on the left). Both cargo terminals are open 24 hours. If you get there at least 3 hours before your flight, you and your luggage will be on the same flight, and you can immediately proceed to claim your baggage upon arrival at your destination. Cargo terminal at Bacolod is immediately on the right upon crossing the airport gate.

All My Bags Are Packed!

After riding a tricycle, then transferring to a jeepney, walking to the LRT station, and squeezing myself into the very full first car of the train, and alighting at Abad Santos station, I found myself in very very unfamiliar territory, I was scared!

Muscling my way through a crowd of rowdy tricycle drivers jockeying for passengers in the same way plastic bag vendors at the main entrance of Gaisano Main do in Bacolod, I bravely crossed the street and waited for my contact, Ate Joji.

She arrived after 5 minutes, bearing a huge sando bag. And inside that sando bag are treasures! First up, backpacks for our second-graders: 

Sports bags for our fourth-graders:

Tote bags for our fifth and sixth graders:

And together with the first batch of action heroes and cartoon character backpacks:

they're all packed and ready to go to Bacolod - all 10 kilos of them, my entire free baggage allocation! lol.

It's not gonna be long now...

Kids Data

Finally, after a long wait, accurate and updated data about the kids are on hand. I first requested for this data on the same day the project was conceptualized, but I only got it yesterday, courtesy of the social worker assigned to the home. 

Gender, Age and Grade Level Distribution are below: 

Armed with this data, I should now be able to accurately prepare the care packages for the kids!

Progress Report

I know, I know... I could have done this in Excel in just a few clicks but there's nothing like an old-fashioned hand written chart to show you where we are on our project.

 

I'll be happy when this chart is filled with check marks; that means supplies are complete and care packages are ready for distribution.  Can't wait!

Partial Supplies Now On Hand

Everybody seems to think that Baclaran is one of the best places to go for the most affordable stuff. Funny, it did not seem that way yesterday! 

From the moment I stepped off that pedestrian bridge off Taft Avenue, my eyes were on the lookout for stalls with school supplies and took note of their prices. Mind you, my first priority yesterday was the schoolbags, but I figured it wouldn't hurt to know the current prevailing prices of the other supplies I needed for our care packages.

I went to 3 different buildings along Taft Avenue, checking and comparing prices. Even on the streets, I was doing the same. One thing puzzled me: all the stalls I checked were selling school supplies at prices higher than that of SM and National Bookstore. 

Case in point: a box of Mongol #2 was selling for about php66 at NBS and around a few pesos difference at SM, but at Baclaran, it was selling for php70, with the lady telling me it's Original! duh! I found an online wholesaler who sells it for about php55 only! 

As mentioned before, I have made some online research and comparison as to current prices, so at least I had some inkling as to how much the items I needed cost. My best option at this point was to go with the online seller who can also deliver the items to my house, at no extra cost - which eliminates the hassle of me lugging the supplies around, and taking a cab from the market place to the house. 

With that, I had no intentions of buying the supplies in Baclaran at this time and so headed home after I got the schoolbags. After grabbing lunch and watching Star Trek Into Darkness at SM Bicutan, the heat was still oppressive and so I decided to kill time at National Bookstore. 

Surprise surprise, I found items that were most affordable there compared to other places. I got the following from NBS: pencil cases, sharpeners, erasers, plastic rulers, art paper sets, plastic envelopes and writing pads for Grades 3 and 4 and a couple of writing notebooks for our Grade 3 student (not worth buying in bulk as we only have 1 to 2 kids at this level). 

 

 The scissors I got from Office Warehouse seeing they were within my budget range and the ones at NBS were not. Below is a snapshot of what I have procured so far... 

All in all, I would say yesterday was a productive day. I am now checking prices from the online wholesaler and will be ordering the rest of the supplies from her, if prices are good.