812 Ate Ching Celebrates with John David Salvador

Written by Board Member, Ate Charmain Tan
Last saturday morning was the very festive birthday celebration of Ate Ching. She turned 24 this year and would usually go out and party with her friends. This year she wanted to do something more meaningful. She brought her friends and family to Tondo to spend the morning with 100 children in the community. Her family had shared their generosity by reaching out to the less privileged as some from her family are active in politics. Despite having done outreach events in the past, her mother said this one is different because they got to know the children and also the community. She said she is very proud of her daughter for deciding to do this.
The John D.V. Salvador Foundation (JDVSF) was established in memory of John David Vincent Salvador, the second of five children born in New York City in 1968 from Filipino parents who emigrated from the Philippines. John lost his life at the age of 14 to a drunk driving incident. The foundation would like to give other children the opportunity to develop their potential as John did not get the chance to do so. The foundation supports programs that benefit children who suffers from poverty, disability, and abuse. It partners with local organizations and donors in providing for the needs of these children. It is a multi-story building located in Maginoo Street in Tondo. There is even a dental clinic at the ground floor where kids can have their regular dental checkup. The children from the neighboring communities would come here on weekends where they get to attend tutorials and other supplementary classes.
Ate Ching and all the other volunteers introduced themselves to the kids by acting out their favorite characters. They acted out characters like the Powerpuff Girls, Batman, Bugs Bunny, Mr Bean, and Popeye. The children laughed as the volunteers tried to copy the characters convincingly.
We then grouped the kids and the volunteers and they got the chance to get to know one another by talking about their favorite subject and what they wanted to be when they grow up. Most of the boys wanted to be soldiers and policemen and most of the girls wanted to be doctors, teachers, and nurses.
We then played a Math Trivia game. Each team was given one Hula Hoop. We gave a math equation and the answer of that equation represented the number of people to go inside the hula hoop. If, for instance, the answer was 8, then eight members of the team were supposed to go inside the hula hoop. The kids and volunteers were very energetic as they tried to solve the equations as fast as they could. The group of Kuya Ochit was very good as they kept getting points and winning the game in the end. The kids were very quick to come up with the right answer. The second game we played was Pass the Ball. Teams were given a ball which they had to pass around as the music played. When it stopped the person holding the ball had to stand and do the gesture that we gave before the start of each round. Some of the gestures they had to do was Cross, X, Mcdo symbol, and Heart. The first person to stand and do the correct gesture got a point. At first the kids didn’t stand up that fast but they eventually got the hang of it and they got quicker. Most of the groups got points but in the end it was once again the group of Kuya Ochit who won. As winners the children from the group got storybooks as prizes.
After the games we got to watch the Magic Show of Kuya Kobe from the Salamangkero Group. He made doves appear from books and rabbit appeared on a platter. The doves flew to the kids and they all shouted and tried to reach out to the doves. He did the umbrella trick where big handkerchiefs would turn into cute polka dot umbrellas. He then called on Kuya Martin to help him out with his tricks.
Kuya Kobe asked Kuya Martin to cut the rope equally in half. The 2 ropes were supposed to be equal in length but one rope ended up longer than the other. Kuya Martin did this several times, kept cutting the rope in the middle but one rope always ended up longer than the other. The kids laughed and also Kuya Martin’s family were laughing at him and telling him he couldn’t even do a simple task. Kuya Kobe then asked the audience to participate in a game. There were two metal cylinders, one contained a bottle, the other contained a drinking glass. He would move the cylinders around and asked the audience to guess where the cup was. Nobody could guess the correct answer as they always pointed to the cylinder with bottle inside. In the end it was revealed that both cylinders contained bottles and the drinking glass had disappeared.
After the day’s activities it was time for lunch. It was indeed a festive celebration as we got to enjoy all the food carts prepared by Ate Ching. Aside from the regular food there were french fries, popcorn, pizza, and cotton candy. They also brought cold juice drinks which was perfect for the hot weather. The kids were excited to eat the french fries at once but they had to finish their food first before they can have the fries and popcorn. I personally got to try the frozen-fresh pizza from Pizza Pedrico’s. It was unique as one person would get a whole pizza in a box and the pizzas were baked there at the event. The kids were all given backpacks that had slippers, towels, and others. We also gave gifts to the center like biscuits and baby feeding bottles for them to share with the community.
We lighted a candle for Ate Ching’s birthday and the kids hugged and thanked the volunteers for spending time with them. We haven’t done much events where there’s 100 kids. One of the teachers said the kids in the community do not get to experience things that often. The kids of Tondo definitely got to enjoy their morning with us. We thank Ate Ching and her family for blessing these children with the wonderful event they created with us. The generous family also supported our Happy Doll, where the proceeds would go to the children with eye cancer. As they say, we make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.

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