A New Year Update

In an effort to keep this blog alive, I'm writing a new post. This is just an update on the book drive we wrote about last year. We were successful in collecting lots of books, and we were able to send them all in box to the Philippines. We decided to send it to Pathways Philippines, mainly because we have a contact there, and we really like what they are doing.

Here's the brief overview of an email we received from Pathways....

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Hi Ms. Valerie!

On behalf of our entire Pathways team, I would like to thank you very much for collecting those books and sending them over to us. The task of getting together people to pitch in this cause may not have been easy for you so all the more we appreciate your efforts.

The selection of books you have donated are just amazing! And most of them are hard-bound so we know that these are the real editions. They have safely placed in our resource center where our students can use them for reference and even for leisurely reading.

Again, thank you from very much for your generosity! Indeed, you are a shining example that young people can do something very significant and hoepfully, effect change in our world. =) Thank you for giving us more hope! =)

Sincerely,
Carissa Villanueva

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To find out more about their program and/or find out how you can help, visit their website at www.pathwaysphilippines.org

Mudslide in Leyte

Mudslide in Southern Leyte, Philippines

Last week, a mudslide covered the whole city in Guinsaugon, Southern Leyte. Our hearts go out to those who were affected by this tragedy. I am grateful for the people who are able to go out there and personally help search for survivors and dig up bodies, as well as assist in any way they can.

For most of us who don’t get that chance, we can still help in more ways than we think. Financial help is always the easiest way we can lend a hand. There are more than 2 million Filipinos in the United States. If a quarter of us can give $1 donation to the victims and for this cause, that would be a lot of money, and it can go a long way. Surely every single person can spare $1. That’s the cost of a soda from the vending machine, I’m positive one can survive a day without a bottle of soda.

So please help out and give.

[I will post links of sites where you can send in your donations later.]

Thoughts on Food

The first thing that comes to my mind whenever I see food fights on TV is:
"Sayang naman yung pag-kain!" or "That's a lot of food to 'play' with!"
Hunger has been linked to students not going to school. Hunger has also been linked to lack of motivation. It's true, who can concentrate when his or her stomach is growling, right?

So here are some ideas to help you lessen the families who are hungry everyday. Before you start, have a target recepient. You could choose a less-fortunate family. You could choose a street kid that you always see on your way to school. Just know where your good deed is going.

1. Food Chain
Collect left-over food from a fast food chain. I am sure that they have loads of food that weren't purchased and are still good. Make sure that they are in good condition. We don't want anyone getting sick! To ensure the safety, why don't you go to the restaurant just before it closes and ask if you can get the food directly from the buffet.

2. Bonding with Food
Whip up a good, but easy meal every Sunday. Then deliver it to your recepient. Ask your family to help! Aside from feeding another family, your family can get together and bond! (Wait for more details for this idea in later posts :) )

3. Food Dare
This idea is actually taken from a Dare Diary article that my fellow COC members and I took part in. It's my COC partner's idea so credits to Aya! Buy food from a fast food chain and give it directly to a street kid.

Prayer

God bless everyone who was affected by the tragedy that happened at ULTRA in Pasig.

Let's all pray for them.

Update

Readers of this blog might be wondering what's up with all our plans. School has started and we're pretty busy. However, the contributors are trying to work out a plan so we can donate books to the Philippines.

We'll update you as soon as we have more details! :)

Book Drive!!

Look around your house. Are there books that you don't really read anymore? Is a book teaching you the alphabet popping out? The school year has probably ended and you're faced again with a pile of books you no longer need. For those who aren't book collectors or pack-rats, why don't you organize a book drive? If you need them for more years to come, keep them. If you're way over the A-B-C or 1-2-3 years, let go. That way, you can help your local public school and even have more space in your room!

Here are some ideas on how you can have your own book drive:

Small Scale

• People you might need to contact: the school you want to donate to and some friends to help you out
• What you might need: boxes or plastic bags
• How? Call the school you're interested in donating to. Tell them that you are interested in donating some books. Then check your textbooks. After you've pretty much collected a lot, bring them all to the school.

Big scale

• People you might need to contact: the school you're donating to, your school's student council, and your school administrators.
• What you might need: a formal proposal to your school administrators and boxes
• How? Work with your student council and talk to your school administrators. Tell them about your plans and they could probably help you find a school to donate to. Once approved, you could put boxes all over campus so students can just drop them off. Don't forget to make an announcement in school!

Even bigger!

• People you might need to contact: the school you're donating to, your baranggay SK chairman or captain, and some neighbors to help you out.
• What you might need: flyers, posters, and boxes.
• How? Contact your baranggay official and tell them about your plans. Once approved, have volunteers help in making posters, announcements, and delivering the books. Leave flyers in the mailboxes telling them to drop by your baranggay hall and drop off their donations.

Make sure your monitor your progress and check that your donations are put to good use, not just kept at a bodega or something!

Other ideas: clothing drive, shoe drive, tsinelas drive

If you decide to try these ideas, don't forget to tell us how it goes! :)

Book Donation Idea

Last night, I was telling my Mom and Sis about Pinoy Generation and what we are hoping to do and accomplish with this. And they were just as excited about it as I am. They gave me an idea to start with.....

BOOK DONATIONS

The whole idea is to try to gather and collect as many old books (textbooks, etc) and send them to a specific school or whoever needs them in the Philippines via Balikbayan boxes. My Mom's even willing to pay for one box. Hopefully, we can also find others who are generous enough to spare some money or at least, their old books. I'm positive that we can collect many many books, old textbooks that no one uses anymore, even the public libraries have really old books to giveaway and even schools. Maybe we can ask them to donate those to our cause.

We need to research where to send these old books too, and I'm sure a lot of kids, especially in Public Schools and Provinces, will need them and find a lot of use for these old books that we just ignore and take for granted. I know I have thrown a few old books into recycling.

I know this is not going to be easy, but I also know it won't be that difficult. Even so, we should at least try. What do you all think of this idea? Is it something we should pursue and take on?

Your Concerns

The last time that I was there:
- seven public school children shared one textbook
- there was a shortage of classroom space that some classes are held outside the classrooms like the basketball court, the stairs, etc.
- gas prices were increasing
- there were people looking through garbage bags for food to eat
- Pasig river wasn't as clean as we would like it to be
- it was hard to find jobs

Kayo, what are your main concerns about the Philippines?

- education
- environment
- poverty
- employment
- health
- politics

Go ahead and comment. :)

Making a Difference

Let's go and try to make a difference! We think we can't, but maybe we can, but we'll never find out unless we actually do something or try something. Diba? Diba? ^_^ Ok, I'm trying to be encouraging here, and post something useful for my first post. Ehehe.

Yay, Pinoy Generation!!!

Introduction

Let me introduce myself first. I'm an eighteen-year-old girl living in the United States, but I haven't been here for that long. I left the Philippines after living there for about sixteen years. A year and half later, I still call the Philippines "my home".

I joined the Student Senate of my college. We deal with different student concerns. One of the first events that I got involved with was the Tsunami Relief fundraising. I have never done much of fundraising in Manila before. I've only donated to some charities that my former school had. So when the Student Senate organized different fundraising events, I got to see how much more people can give. I said to myself, "Wow, I could be helping my own country, too."

I chat with my friends frequently and whenever I would ask about the conditions back home, I would get the good updates and the negative ones, too. They would say, "Ang taas na ng gas!" (The gas prices are high!) or even "Kahit nga ang Big Mac ang mahal na rin eh!" (Even the Big Mac is expensive.)

Whenever I would hear and remember these things, I would always wonder about how I can give back. I wish I could organize fundraisers and help out, but how? I cannot physically be there; I am on the other side of the world!

I took a literature course last semester and we studied a poem. The poem was about his love for his country even though it gives him a hard time. He also encourages to people to act. Also, a young reader of my recent article told me that she appreciated it. That's when it hit me. I enjoy writing (and blogging!) so why not use that and the internet world to help out?

My friends and I would get into these "political" conversations. We'll talk about how we wish things worked in the Philippines. We have the "Dapat kasi ganito" (It should be like this) statements. I can see how so many of YOU, the Pinoys, have GREAT ideas on how we can make our country a better place. The problem is you don't know where to go from there. What may hold you back is the fact you don’t really know where to start. You don’t know who to talk to or how to do it. You don’t need to be interested in politics or anything. You just need to be interested in helping our country.

My friend and I built this website. We hope to make this a blogsite where we can all share our ideas to help.

Let's not just sit and wish things were like this or that. Let’s do something about it. If each of us does a little thing to help make our country better, then I’m sure it will make a big difference. It doesn’t matter if it’s not a huge and immediate change, at least we tried! Every little effort, every little idea, and every little act makes a difference.

So, what do you think? Are you with us?

There is still hope. No matter how little you think it is, it's still there. All we need to do is ACT.