Post Christmas & New Year Groceries

Way before Christmas, I was planning to distribute groceries to street families. The idea was to cater only 15 grocery bags which consist of canned goods, noodles, biscuits, coffee, juice and chocolates. Due to tight budget, this plan was deferred. Thank God because there were people who contributed to make this thing happen. Special thanks to Ms. Alexie, Kuya Jun, Jef and Jonathan for their kind hearts.

I have already bought the goods and repacked them for distribution. Regretfully, I only distributed 4 grocery bags as of today. I am having a hard time to carry them all since I am just distributing them as I go out. I hope I can dispose them immediately because I know that these people need it so badly. I would also like to thank in advance Nikki, Charla and Ninz who said that they will help me distribute these groceries. Also, thank you to Malou because she already helped me with the two bags. With fingers crossed, let's do it within January.

These are the pictures where the 4 grocery bags went:

Heaven is Real

Last night, we invited people who dwell at the park near our church. Most of them came from the province. They were overwhelmed by the situation here. They were hoping that they will get a better life here but the truth disappoints them thus they find themselves sleeping at the park.

Before the feeding program, we showed a short film. The title is "Heaven is Real". The film is an attempt to describe what Heaven is. It also depicts what it feels like being in Heaven. The film was so moving. It gives hope for those who needs it. It simply says that you cannot bring to Heaven all the wealth that you strive to have all of your life and a person is said to be wise if he prepares for his death.

After that short film, we also distributed Bibles. All of them accepted Christ as their savior and that's the great thing about it. It's like hitting two birds at the same time. The program's essence is to feed them with food and gospel.

We served fried chicken and puso ng saging with gata. After the program, me and my father wander around e. rodriguez to find street people and scavengers to distribute the rest of the food. The scene that I cannot forget is that we saw a man sitting in front of Andoks Restaurant and he was staring on the menu at the counter religiously. His clothes were worn out and obviously he does not have the money to buy the food. When I gave him the food it seemed that his prayer was answered.

On the second Saturday of December, we will have a feeding program again. We will feature "Hell is Real". I am so excited.

The slippers were back...

Along with the success of Feeding Program - Part II, we have also distributed pairs of slippers to street kids. Thanks to Nikki!!! You're the best. She donated a bag of slippers. These are the faces of the kids who benefited from Nikki's good heart.

Feeding Program - October 30, 2010

Immediately after my night shift work in Makati, I went straight to Quezon City to prepare for the Feeding Program. When I arrived, my mom had already cooked adobong manok and rice which were served during the program. Since I'm a frustrated chef, I made tuna sandwiches, juice and also bought apples, oranges and pears.

We wanted the street people to be satisfied from eating that's why we prepared 3 meals

1st - tuna sandwich as they arrive

2nd - Adobong manok and rice during the program

3rd - apples, oranges and pears for take home

During the program, we played Jesus film. Unfortunately, for some strange reasons, we were not able to convert the language to tagalog. We even borrowed dvd player from our neighbor but still, we've got no luck. Although that happened, my father, who is a pastor, decided to give a short message/preaching in lieu of the film showing.

My father shared our family story when we did not know Christ. He told them that we were no different from them before. He did not have a good job, he was once a car wash boy, his peers were not good influences, he was a drug addict, he was always drunk. His life has no direction. But the dark story ended when he watched a man preaching on TV. He decided to accept Christ as his savior.

He had a teary eye when he told that story, even I was moved though it was not my first time to hear that. God loves the poor. My father keeps on telling me that, "Gumawa ka ng mabuti sa mga taong di makakaganti sa'yo."

All in all, the feeding program was not all about it. It was also about introducing Christ to them. Some of them even asked when will be the next service and they are willing to join again. By the way, 21 street people attended the program.

Here are some of the pictures. To God be the glory!!!

Special thanks to Nikki (my teammate). She donated slippers for the kids.

Feeding Program starting 10.30.10 (Biweekly)

Sorry guys if I have no posting for last week. We were cooking a bi-weekly feeding program tapping our Church headed by my father. The program will cater homeless/street people near our church vicinity in New Manila, Quezon City. It will start this October 30, 2010 and hopefully it will push through. The whole idea is to gather them, feed them and share the Word of God to them. Activities will include praise and worship, film showing, sharing, and of course, eating (hehehe...)

Here's the teaser for the 10.30.10 event.

W6 - Doughnuts and Books

San Juan and Mandaluyong. I was blessed to have a friend to accompany me in doing my good deeds. He told me not to say anything about him/her thus I'll keep his/her profile as anonymous. I was also fortunate that I have captured two of the most beautiful smiles a kid could ever wear. It really paid back all the efforts we gave to help them. Hearing the words "Salamat po." and "Kuya, thank you." are really fulfilling. It makes me want to share more of what I have.

Here are some of the pictures and I'm very glad to share them with you.

W1 - 3rd Update

At last, I got the picture of my sponsored kid. I opted not to choose whether to sponsor a boy or a girl. I left it to their judgment to choose someone for me. And God gave me Melvin B. as the beneficiary. I hope I can be a good and consistent sponsor. Yehey!!!

For those of you who also want to sponsor a child to school please click on this site > > > http://www.worldvision.org.ph/sponsor-a-child-now

W5 - Books & Burgers with Ruth/Jed/Benjo

I received tons of books (exaggerated) from Ruth and Jed. They comprise of both story books and coloring books. It is nice to know that my friends are also inspired to help those children who lack access to education. We know that most of them don't know how to read that's why the books are more visual and colorful. Thank you guys for helping me help others.

On the other hand, I received a message from one of my previous clients in my sideline (bookkeeping), Benjo. He also saw my blog and got interested in taking a part of it. He contributed bunch of burger sandwiches and joined me in distribution across sort of all parts of Manila. The journey went from Roxas Boulevard to Luneta to Harrison to Malate and up to Taft. Thanks to Benjo because he brought his car that's why it was less tiring compared to my previous outreaches wherein we gave out goods while walking.

Cons - It was hard taking pictures while we were in the car. I only have two hands, my friend was driving and the cars behind us kept on blowing horns.

Pros - We have given goods in different areas including those kids that sell on the streets and obviously less tiring. (hehehe...)

Here are some of the pictures and I'm happy to share them with you.

W3 - Jollibee with Carla (in lieu)

At first, I was saddened to learn that I was not included in the list for the Coastal Clean-up activity in Batangas. I was still part of the waiting-list the day before the activity. I thought I won't be having an outreach for this week. But thank God, he made an opportunity for me to help others.

This day, I was out with my former teammates in the office to have a lunch at MOA. The expenses were company shouldered that's why we were all happy. After that, I went to a group meeting for our presentation at class in graduate school then got back to MOA planning to watch a movie using my 4 free tickets c/o Citibank. Unfortunately, my teammates were not interested in watching movie anymore. They just decided to window shop. At that time I thought that the day would pass and I will not achieve my mission to have an outreach at least once a week. But something came up along our conversations, that one of my teammates was interested in giving food or slippers to street children. Actually a few of them also wanted join me but in some other time because it was getting late and their houses are far away from MOA.

At that instance, I grabbed the opportunity to ask Carla if she wanted to do the outreach after strolling. She was eager to experience the moment of helping people in the streets. She has had helped other people in "bahay ampunan" before but doing it in the streets was very new to her. She was wondering how was it like to give foods to them.

At 5:00pm, we went off from MOA and reached Gil Puyat LRT Station. Carla is residing near the area. Just like our outreach in Pasig, we also gave out burger steaks with rice from Jollibee. Actually we gave out 20 packs of food.

As we were searching for the street kids, Carla was excited and happy telling me, "Ganito pala ang feeling, ang saya!" I instantly replied, "Wala pa nga tayong makita at mabigyan eh, masaya ka na. Hehehe..." She said, "Hindi, yung feeling na ni-look forward mo na may matutulungan or mapapakain kang tao." Those are not the exact words but that's how I remember the dialogue, hehehe....

I only took two pictures for this, and I am happy to share them with you.

W4 - Jollibee with Malou

One of my friends in college read this blog and found herself interested in joining me on my next outreach after the 7 pairs of slippers. Actually when she passed the board exam, we did more likely the same thing. We bought "pansit sa bilao" and distributed it amongst the people in Quiapo. It was her "pay-back" for passing the CPA board exam. Her name is Malou, we were classmates in college and also officemates in two of my previous companies. It's nice to have her as a friend.

It was her idea to have the outreach in Pasig, where she lives. At first we planned to buy "pansit" again and barbeque at Ambers and we will re-pack it for distribution. However, due to unknown reasons, we decided to have the 39'ers at Jollibee. The 39'ers consist of Lumpiang shanghai with rice or Beef salpicao with rice, if I am not mistaken. Unfortunately, the 39'ers is only available from Monday to Friday. Since it was Sunday, we were forced to order their burger steak with rice also at P39.00/pc. So, our combined money of P1,000.00 catered 25 street people in Pasig.

We held the outreach within the vicinity of Pasig Church. It was from 1:30pm till 3:00pm. The sun was too high. But it's OK. Atleast, some of our fats were burned during the activity (hehehe...). Surprisingly, most of the street people in Pasig were adults, we only find a few children loitering within the area. Here are some of the pictures and I am happy to share them with you.

We are happy that we only found a few street people in Pasig. Meaning, people in Pasig need minimal help because they can sustain their everyday needs. Since we were having a hard time finding to whom we were going to give the rest of the foods. We decided to give it to the church. At that time, we saw a group of children attending a Sunday school at church. During their break, we saw that they only got few buns of bread without filling. When we gave out the burger steaks, the Sunday school teacher was very thankful because they can now have a tasty merienda.

All in all, it was nice to have someone to accompany me in my outreach. That's mainly the goal of this blog. To inspire others to do the same thing. It was more fun and less tiring. Before the sunset, we decided to treat ourselves over an ice cream at Jollibee.