Written by: Ate Charmain Tan, Vice President External
We were all looking forward this morning as we headed to the ice skating rink in SM Megamall. It was the 28th birthday celebration of Ate Kennettee. Together with her bestfriend Ana, boyfriend Carlo, and officemates Michelle and Ina, she wanted to create another meaningful event for her birthday this year. For her birthday three years ago, Ate Ken did a baking workshop for the children of Tuklasan. This year her chosen beneficiary were the children of Little Lights Ministry. Founded in 2006 by Pastor Joseph Casaje and wife Sister Jeneatte, Little Lights Ministry is a Philippine-based humanitarian organization dedicated to working with marginalized children and their families towards having a better life. It provides assistance to communities in Pasig, Cainta, and Pateros. It has programs focusing on health, nourishment, education, and spiritual well-being of the children.
As the children arrived at the venue they were eagerly leaning through the glass to have a look at the trainers practicing in the rink. Always very well behaved, they formed a line to get their shoe measurements. They were so excited to try out their skating shoes. Since it was the kidsā first time to ice skate, the volunteers helped them put on their shoes and tie their laces. We also rented the polar bears which the kids could push around to help them practice. Trainer Teacher Julie and two others taught the kids some basics like balancing and gliding. She also taught the kids to bend their knees to prevent falling. Some of the kids got excited in skating so fast that they ended up falling and laughing with one another. Some kids wanted to hop on the polar bears while the other kids pushed them around. Slowly the children got the hang of it as some of them did a pretty good job. Two of the children, Justin and Don, skated very well. The other kids skated with their friends and laughed when they all fell down at the same time. We partnered with some of the kids as we taught them to skate. It has been a while since I skated so I started out really slow as well. The kids kept grabbing a hold of my arm as I tried to hold them without falling myself. We took some great photos of the children having a superb time. Some of Ate Kenās friends also ended up falling and lauging. As the time came to an end we took a nice group photo on ice. After changing back into their shoes some of the kids still ran to the ice as they didnāt want the day to end. After skating we got to enjoy our lunch with the children. They kept talking about how fun it was to try ice skating. They hugged the volunteers and thanked everyone for such a great time. As we have known these kids for quite sometime they said they look forward to our next event with them. They cheerfully waved and shouted goodbye as they headed out. We thank Ate Kennettee for such a great ice skating adventure!
