Happy Birthday, Tita Annabelle!

the Orphans from the House of refuge hold a special place in my heart. that's the reason why, upon meeting them on my birthday as i spent it with them,, i felt the urge to find reasons to make them smile even more.. As early as August, i've had meetings with Timezone, Everyday is Your Birthday Foundation and Tita Annabelle to hold an outreach party for the orphans to be held in October for Tita's bday. As October neared, everybody got excited --- but then again, Ondoy happened and the orphange was in deep waters. These kids, who have already been through sooo much already, had to go through this tragedy. They swam through the floods just to save themselves and their fellow orphans to go to a neighbor's house that was higher that the orphanage. Thanks to angels like Vince & Patricia Hizon who gave them shelter for 3 days before they could find a new apartment to stay in, they all survived.


A few days after the Ondoy Typhoon, Patricia tweeted me a picture of the kids talking excitedly about the upcoming party, as they were really looking forward to it more than ever. The picture touched me in so many ways i cannot even explain.

A few days before the party, Tita Annabelle kept asking me what she had to do, what she had to bring, what she could donate for these kids... Tita was as excited to bond with these orphans as they were. I was reminded later on that she, too, spent some time in her childhood in an orphanage,, so this party really meant something for her..

Come party day, the kids all arrived on time, full of energy... We were supposed to have an hour and a half of playtime, but thanks to Timezone's generosity, they let us play for more than 3 hours... The kids even had a special song number & violin playing for Tita Annabelle!!

At the end of the day, everyone was so exhausted, but with smiles in their faces... I couldnt wipe the smile off my face seeing the happiness in their faces...

So once again... thank you so much Ana Benitez and Raffy Prats of TIMEZONE for all the generosity -- for the unlimited playing cards & lootbags, to all the food from Texas Grilled Bbq House, Oliver's Super Sandwiches & Krispy Kreme who served really yummy treats, and to Everyday is Your birthday Foundation for setting me up with the House of Refuge... also thank you Lorenz Manalang for being the one who set up my meeting w Timezone :)

Thank you Jun Lalin, for helping out with the invites, and the coverage that made other people even more aware about the House of Refuge.. Thank you for those who went --all the Royale Era talents! i saw how much fun u guys were having with the kids... Thank you Doc Cielo Adajar of Adajar Dental Services for the dental packages you sent over for the kids... Chard & Tita Annabelle for the cheque donations and Ate Ruffa for the boxes of clothes and toys for the orphans...

And to the orphans, thank you so much for touching my heart in a way that no one else has ever done so....