Written by: Ate Ren dela Cruz, Board Member
With only a few days away before Christmas, majority of those celebrating the season are taking part in the Christmas rush for preparations and gift-giving for their friends and loved ones. However, our friends at Alveo Land made sure to still make time to bless not just those within their inner circle, but to extend their blessings this season to those in need of those blessings the most – through making their company Christmas party a Christmas outreach as well.
It was our pleasure to partner with ate Gracee and the rest of our volunteers last December 20 for a fun-filled celebration with the kids of Gawad Kalinga Narra in Marikina. 60 kids came to spend the day with our ates and kuyas, and we started off the afternoon via our fun getting-to-know portion meant to establish rapport between the kids and the volunteers, and for the children to know their new ates and kuyas better.
A fun-filled afternoon awaited our lively kids and the energetic volunteers, who bonded together through games and merry-making! For entertainment, we asked kuya Koby, are resident U! Happy magician, to wow us with a magic show. He did not disappoint, and everyone, both the children and the adults, were delightedly awaiting his every display of the many tricks he prepared for the audience. We also invited ate Divine, one of our Balloon Twisting artists, to showcase her talent for creating awesome shapes and figures. The kids had a grand time guessing what she was making, and she gamely treated them with some of their requests.
The kids and volunteers took time to bond even more during mealtime, and pretty soon it was time to wrap up the meaningful celebration. The kids made sure to let their appreciation be known to our ates and kuyas, as they hugged each one goodbye, grateful for taking the time and effort to bless them as well in their celebration of the holidays.
