Written by: Ate Iris Boo, Core Team Member
“Dreams do come true”, this is a short yet very inspiring message from Ate Angel who celebrated her 13th birthday with IT Tender kids at Alabang, Muntinlupa City. IT Tender is a non-profit organization which empowers children to finish their schooling by providing educational programs and activities.
U! Happy team began the event by introducing our birthday celebrant who’s by then accompanied by her family. There were 5 volunteers, which is exact for the number of groups that we have gathered. Our hosts, Ate Amy and Kuya Matt, asked each group to introduce themselves with one another, share their dreams and goals in life, share their favorite Christmas song, also to come up with a group name, and to create a jingle or a group chant. I was impressed when the kids were sharing about their dreams, most of them would like to become doctors, nurses, policemen and even flight attendants. For their group names, they came up with Team Happy, Star, Kulit, Reindeer, and Team Power Five Girls.
After the group sharing, we started our first game, The Matheniks, wherein each group was given 7 paper clips and they have to connect these clips depending on their answers. The questions were like ‘How many colors are there in a rainbow?’, ‘How many Holidays are there for the month of August?’, ‘How many months have names with 3 syllables?’, and ‘How many dwarves are friends with Snow White?’. This is obviously a test of mathematical skills and stock knowledge. The winner of this game was the team of Power Five Girls. The next game was the Pass the Charades, in which Kuya Matt will ask every group leader to perform actions that would define the given word/answer. The clue for this game is that all the words are related to the Christmas season like a snowman, Christmas lantern, gift, mistletoe etc. This game requires a proper strategy and great teamwork in order to win, and lucky for the team Happy for they have garnered the highest points.
Right after the exciting games were the puppet show. The kids met Choychoy, our puppet for that day; he entertained everyone with his funny stories and jokes. They also learned balloon twisting with shapes like swords and flowers, to machine gun, and even a poodle!
The party wouldn’t be complete without food and giveaways from our sponsor. The lovely family of Ate Angel distributed kids’ favorite Jollibee Chicken and Spaghetti meal and their simple gifts/loot bags containing items for personal care.
On the final part of the program, everyone cheerfully sang Happy Birthday to Ate Angel, and I believe this is one of the most memorable moments of the event, especially when Ate Angel delivered her message for the kids, she said, “Hinahangaan ko kayo dahil sa mga pangarap ‘nyo, and I know, that If you work hard enough, mangyayari at magkakatotoo lahat ng ‘yon.”
Thank U, Angel and to your family, for choosing us to become part of your special day. With all the love and happiness that you’ve shared, you have proven that you truly are an Angel!