bright–up the streets, colorful parols adorn doors and windows, Yuletide carols up the cheery ambience in malls and restaurants, and people start


making their gifts lists. It’s the season of giving and sharing indeed, and a time to celebrate the love, friendships and blessings we have received.


One great way to celebrate the blessings we’ve received throughout the year is to share it with others too. Pathways to Higher Education offers gift packs that proudly carry local products from around the country that will surely add joy and meaning to your Christmas.


GIFTS OF HOPE I


b 2 Pathways to Higher Education gift packs BY DONNA DE JESUS


T’S that time of the year again— Christmas lights


■ These reusable bayong are hand-woven by a cooperative of women from Potrero, Malabon.


Pathways scholars lovingly pack products grown and harvested by our Filipino farmers that are full of flavor and free from chemicals. Grains of Hope and Winning Brew will surely delight family and friends, for with them comes the true spirit of Christmas. Grains of Hope (P180) is a 1- kilo pack of nutritious brown rice cultivated and harvested from Kalinga by our Filipino farmers, while the Winning Brew (P250) is a pack of 250-gram Benguet coffee with Masco sugar rocks. Both come in blue, yellow, green and red reusable bayong bags, hand-woven by a cooperative of


Kultura Filipino launches Kultura Souvenirs


THERE’S a new place to shop for all things Filipino. It’s called Kultura Souvenirs, a one-stop pasalubong destination, which opened its first store in time for the arrival of Pinoys from all over the world for the holiday season. The store is a spin-off of the popular


Kultura Filipino and carries its heritage as a showcase of the best of the Philippines. And with balikbayan friends and family members, as well as those working overseas spending the holidays in town, it’s an exciting new place to shop for Philippine souvenirs. It’s also a great place to bring tourists who wish to bring something from the Philippines back to their native countries. Kultura Souvenirs brings together


wonderfully designed items from the different regions in the Philippines— woodcrafts from the Kalinga region, exquisite embroidery from southern Luzon, capiz and shell accents from the Visayas, and ethnic tribal crafts from Mindanao. It has world class items for the home, clothes and accessories, novelty items like miniature, and local delicacies and wine. Shopping at Kultura Souvenirs is like going on a shopping trip throughout the Philippines in one stop. Best of all, it helps bring continued livelihood to many cottage industries around the country. Kultura Souvenirs is located at the


Ground Floor of the Annex at SM City Fairview and at the SM Mall of Asia.


■ One of 220 suites at the Discovery Suites in Ortigas Book a room, help a hero BY TRISHA ELCARTE ■ A Capiz wall décor featuring Manila’s famous jeepneys


THE 2009 CNN Hero of the Year Efren Peñaflorida graciously received the pledge of Discovery Suites last week to donate a portion of its Christmas room revenues to his Dynamic Teen Company at the end of the holiday season. “We were touched and inspired by the selflessness of Efren Peñaflorida and the organization’s youthful volunteers,” says Discovery Suites General Manager Bobby Horrigan. “Giving the children a chance for a better future by providing them basic education is a worthy and admira- ble cause. Real change will happen if you provide the essen- tial tools to succeed. To quote a famous proverb: “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed


him for a lifetime.”


The room package, dubbed “Christmas Three,” is a yearly offering of the 220 all-suite hotel. The package provides guests a three-night stay while paying only for two nights. This promotional rate includes buffet breakfasts for two persons in a Junior Suite. Christmas Three is widely anticipated and patronized by balikbayans and locals.


Proceeds from the donation will help defray expenses for the construction of Dynamic Teen Company’s “Kariton Klassrum” in Cavite and the “Kalingain Batang Mahirap” Learning Center in Novaliches, both are modest complexes that will provide temporary shelter to street chil- dren. The facilities will also have a classroom, library, clinic and other welfare support services.


➤HEROB3


■ Grains of Hope is a 1-kilo pack of nutritious brown rice cultivated and harvested from Kalinga by our Filipino farmers.


December 12, 2010


magazine The Sunday Times


the filipino champion


■ The Winning Brew is a 250-gram pack of Benguet coffee with Masco sugar rocks.


women from Potrero, Malabon. A specially made card that briefly explains the relevance of the gift to Pathways’ scholars completes the packaging.


These all-Filipino Pathways products go beyond the Christmas season in providing goodwill. The significance of each gift is spread out through the whole year in the difference that it makes to the lives of public high school students who hope to pursue quality college education. Each purchase will help Pathways enable more students to prepare for higher education and realize their dreams of brighter futures. Spread the love this Christmas with Grains of hope and the Winning Brew. Not only will it bring cheer to your families and friends, it will also bring hope for young Filipino students.


Pathways to Higher Education is a social involvement program of the Ateneo de Manila University that identifies deserving but financially- underprivileged public high school students and equips them with necessary skills, through academic enrichment classes and self enhancement workshops, to prepare them for quality college education and brighter futures ahead.


➤HOPEB3


AIRLINE DONATES FILIPINO BOOKS TO MULTICULTURAL FAMILIES TO foster better understanding and respect for different international cultures, Asiana Airlines (OZ) has donated some 1,239 foreign books in seven Asian languages to the Yang-Cheon Foreign Laborer Center in Seoul, Korea. With 95 titles from the Philippines, the other books came from Vietnam, China, Cambodia, Japan, Russia and Uzbekistan. The donation was made in recognition of the growing number of multicultural families in Korea. Since 2007, Asiana has donated over 6,100 foreign language books for foreign workers and multicultural families living in Korea. From left; Asiana Airlines President and Chief Executive Officer Yoon Young-doo and Shinmok Community Center Director Kim Hak-Moon with flight attendants and guests during the donation ceremony.


SENATE SPOUSES PLAY SANTA AT SM CHRISTMAS came early for the children of the Tahanang Mapagpala Foundation as members of the Senate Spouses foundation treated them to a day of fun, food, and shopping at the SM Megamall. Audrey Zubiri, together with Eloisa Fernan, Mila Drilon, Mayor Lani Cayetano of Taguig, Jane Honasan and Ma. Victoria Guingona played mom for a day to the 52 kids. The Christmas in November event is an annual project of SM and the Senate Spouses.


TWO INTERNATIONAL ICONS RECEIVE BPINOY AWARDS BECAUSE every good deed deserves a pat on the back, the Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) once again honors the exemplary achievements of overseas Filipinos through its BPinoy Awards. This year, the BPinoy awardees include international singer Charice Pempengco and Dr. Manuel “Manny” Cacdac, founder and chairman of the Hydrocephalus Foundation of the Philippines. The 18-year-old Pempengco, started as an Internet sensation where she got the attention of America’s most influential celebrities Ellen DeGeneres and Oprah Winfrey. These eventually opened doors for an international music career and as a cast member of the hit US series, Glee. Cacdac, on the other hand, has been giving hope to many marginalized Filipinos by initiating and performing free hydrocephalus operations in poor local communities. Photo shows Cacdac receiving the award from BPI officials.


»CHEERS


JAMIE MARIE ELONA


FILIPINO CHILDREN GO THE EXTRA SMILE YOUR kids may not know it yet, but they can do more than just play outdoors, go to school, or fire at bad guys and monsters on computer screens; they can also help change the lives of thousands of children who are literally “strangers to a smile” by creating their happiest artworks. Using colorful crayons and pencils, kids ages 5 to 12 helped bring to life the dream of Havaianas and Operation Smile to heal the broken smiles of children with cleft deformities as they drew their idea of “happiness” for a cause. A nonprofit, volunteer organization, Operation Smile provides reconstructive surgery and healthcare to kids with facial deformities. Statistics show that one in every 500 Filipino babies is born with a cleft deformity yearly. Log on to www.havaianasphilippines.com/smile for more info on how to make kids smile.


RETAIL CHAIN HONORED WITH GINTONG HALIGI AWARD THE Philippine Seven Corp. (7-Eleven Philippines, PSC) was recently awarded by the Advertising Foundation of the Philippines with its highest honor, the Gintong Haligi award, for its innovative marketing campaign, “7-Elections.” The foundation sought to recognize merit on the part of the private sector for their initiatives to promote honest and meaningful elections for the 2010 polls. The 7-Elections was an informal presidential polling campaign where 7-Eleven customers could “vote” by buying Gulp Cups with the image and colors of the candidates of their choice. The initiative engaged the voting public in a meaningful election initiative anchored on the values of freedom of choice and responsible voting. Notably, PSC was the only retailer to be awarded the Gintong Haligi. Other recipients of the award were ABS- CBN for “Boto mo, I-Patrol Mo,” Bombo Radyo for their voter’s education campaign on the automated elections, dissemination of information about the candidates, and public service and Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. and Smart Foundation for “Ako Mismo,” among others.


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