Donate-a-Book Project
We have this project in MBB 194 wherein we ought to do something to give back to the community. When this was announced last year, I immediately thought of doing some sort of outreach program, but I wasn’t sure at the time what kind of program to do exactly. I have zero experience on outreach activities as I’m not really a people person, so I searched the internet for ideas on “how to give back to the community.” Thankfully, I came across this list of small, yet good ways to repay the world, included in the list was to donate pre-owned books — and then my proposal came about.
Below is the brief Donate-a-Book project description I passed to our prof. Pardon my work, I’m not used to writing this kind of things.
It is every child’s right to receive quality education as a part of growing up. However, many less fortunate Filipino children do not get the chance to experience such due to a number of limitations, mainly, poverty. The objective of the Donate-a-Book project is to somehow alleviate the aforementioned situation. It aims to provide unprivileged children easier and free access to learning materials, particularly books, in hopes of imparting knowledge to them through those materials, and in turn, aiding their development. It also aims to increase their appreciation for reading, and learning in general while at an early age. In this project, books previously owned by the project proponent will be compiled and donated to the orphanage of choice.
When my dad heard about my proposal, he informed me about Valeriano E. Fugoso Memorial School in Marikina, my sister’s school and my alma mater as well, already having a preschool program (although I’m not sure if the program was already in effect during my time there, I wasn’t really mindful of the things around me when I was younger). I discovered that the program wanted books for the kids to read and enjoy; however, being a public school with very limited funds, it was difficult. So I decided to donate the books my sister and I used when we were kids, with the children under the preschool program as the recipients. I also realized that some, if not most, of the school’s students are staying in an orphanage, Boystown (the school and Boystown are within the same compound), all the more encouraging me to push through with the project.
Wednesday morning, before going straight to class, I dropped by the school to donate our books, entailing the completion of my project. The original plan was to hand them directly to the kids I was intending to donate to. My mom even prepared loot bags for the kids! But sadly, I didn’t have time to meet them, so I just turned the books over to the school principal and property custodian. I actually kind of rushed the actual donation process since I wanted to finish the project before the progress report was due.
The donation "ceremony." Haha! The man in blue is the principal and those in yellow green are the teachers.
But even if it was rushed, it was still a wonderful experience, as I saw genuine happiness and thankfulness in the eyes of the people there, especially the principal’s. Haha! Seriously though. The feeling was incomparable, the way they were all thanking me again and again (even if I donated around 50 books only), all worked up and excited for the children…it was incredible. I know it wasn’t just my ego because it felt different, it was new. I don’t know, maybe it was that glorious feeling people always talk about after volunteering/doing outreach; I never really understood it until then. My mentality before was “why would I donate, we’re not exactly rich so I don’t have anything to give.” But now, I’d like to believe that no matter what, one can always find something to give and share, be it tangible things, or even the immaterial ones, such as care, and of course, love. Chos. Point is, there will always be something. I’m hugely thankful to this project for helping me chance upon this realization. Maybe what I did wasn’t that big of a deal, but it still inspired me, baby steps! And with this, I vow to continue my project, even when our MBB 194 class is over. But I’m not after that feeling I described earlier, I just simply want to do it, simply for the sake of giving and sharing.
So please please please, if you have books that you’re not using anymore, you can help me with my project, I’m sure you’ll make the kids happy hihi.
Dora’s 13th Birthday
It was my sister’s 13th birthday yesterday. I suggested to celebrate it somewhere outdoors-y, for a change, ’cause, as far as I know, she’s spent all of her previous birthdays indoors–whether at a mall, at her school or at home. However, since it was raining, we had no choice but to still stand by the tradition. But we had fun nonetheless.
Dora: What was your favorite part of the trip?
The part I liked most, aside from the family bonding (and the shopping hehe), was when my parents decided to get her an ice cream cake because it was our first time to try it. What is ignorant. Haha! Well, I never really thought of getting myself an ice cream cake, or requesting for one, as I’m not an ice cream fanatic anyway. I’m not normally fond of sweets, but this was an exceptional case, I liked the idea of ice cream distinctly shaped as something else so I was actually excited, just like a kid who just bought a new toy hihi. My dad asked the DQ person to write “Happy 13th Birthday Ma. Alissa” on the cake, and when we opened the box, I saw also written on the side, “Love, Papa & Mama.” I jokingly got mad at my dad for not including me, does he not know that I love my sister too? But it was all right, probably just memory gap or something, forgot my sister’s got a sister. Hahaha!
This is the cake. This is the cake. This is the cake. Oh the cake!
Since it was our first time to deal with a melting cake, I had no idea what to do, I knew for sure there’s no way we would be able to consume it entirely in one go! I even researched the temperature requirement of ice cream cakes for storage. Turns out ice cream cakes behave just like, well…ice cream. Put them in a freezer and then everything’s fine. Why haven’t I thought of that at the moment, it’s still ice cream, just molded like a cake. Stupid, I know. But it was just sooo hilarious and ridiculous how we were all panicking and trying to finish the whole cake up before it melted. Hahaha!
Happy birthday little sistar! Oh, a little background on the post's title, some of my friends call her Dora 'cause her hair before was styled like Dora's. Haha!
Dora: I liked that too.
I generally love birthdays. Especially if it’s a family member’s. I get to pig out without spending my own money. Also, my dad treats the three girls, me, my mom and my sister, not just the celebrant, more generously than usual, shopping-wise. Haha! We’re not really an outgoing family; since most of us have Sunday as our only free day, we usually decide to just spend it on resting and sleeping in. So, seriously speaking, I love family birthdays because they’re the majority of those very few times we all get to hang out together, outside the house. Hoho drama.
Now I’m eagerly waiting for the next one, my mom’s, which is on…July. Hay, too many days to count.
Oh em. Just realized. My sister’s a teenager now. I hope she doesn’t get tangled in a handful of teenager issues like I did. Wait, I’m still a teenager. Hahaha. Oh weeeell. But nah, I truly believe she won’t, such a good girl my sister haha! Aww, she’s not the little girl I used to bully anymore huhu. Chos.
