Good deeds

SPREAD the love through “Noche Buena,” World Vision’s newest campaign.

Christmas is truly in the air as World Vision in the Philippines kicks off its Noche Buena campaign for 2019, the child-focused organization’s annual initiative aimed at making Christmas celebrations more meaningful and joyful for the most vulnerable children and their families.

World Vision ambassador Jasmine Curtis-Smith and advocate Erwan Heusaff showed their support by teaming up in doing the Noche Buena with a Twist challenge. They produced an online vlog where they cooked their own version of one of the young Filipinos’ favorite Noche Buena dishes, Spaghetti.

Everyone is invited to take part in making this a memorable Christmas for the children. By giving a one-time donation of at least P1,000, sponsors and donors can help provide two (2) families with Noche Buena gift that contains ingredients for spaghetti and fruit salad with additions of canned foods and juice drink.

Launched in 2005, the Noche Buena campaign has been one of the most awaited seasons of World Vision’s assisted children across the country, bringing joy to Filipino homes annually.

To know more and donate for the Noche Buena campaign, please visit campaigns.worldvision.org.ph/nochebuena. You may also follow /worldvisionph on Facebook and @worldvisionphl on Instagram for updates.

Priceless smiles of Looc Elementary School students.

Away from the bustling city lights, Looc Elementary School lies in the heart of Nasugbu Batangas where it is the second home to hundreds of little children. Every day, these kids go to school and attend their basic education classes. On break times, they spend their time running around the vast school grounds while overlooking the unobstructed scenic view of the nearby mountains. Some also play hide and seek while others happily take turns and play around their little school slide; nothing fancy, it’s a life anchored in genuine simplicity.

But on this special day, there was more fun, laughter and excitement as employee volunteers from The SM Store Lipa and The SM Store Batangas played Santa and transformed the school grounds into a big function- just like a real children’s party. They distributed adorable and cuddly plush toys, clothes and grocery items to the little children of this humble community.

Mikko, one of the grade school students of Looc Elementary School, shared how much he enjoyed the activities and his new stuffed toy. According to him, such treat happens rarely in their school community.

Meanwhile, Luciana Tulagan, Principal of Looc Elementary, also expressed her joy and gratitude for the fun filled day and the value of sharing and gift giving that The SM Store was able to embody through this activity.

BEARS of Joy campaign is made in collaboration with SM Cares, the social responsibility arm of SM Supermalls.

In many places in the Philippines, one will see underprivileged families in need of help for various aspects of their lives. Needless to say, most children from these families have to help make ends meet, hence they often prioritize the most basic necessities or utilities, over toys or other experiences.

Having witnessed the dire situation many families are facing, Lucena Ulep Calamayan, known to many as Luz, made it her lifetime advocacy to help alleviate the plight of those who are in most need of help.

She takes the lead in many projects including livelihood programs, outreach programs, medical and dental missions, book donations, and feeding programs. One of the many remarkable projects she has been working on is the SM Bears of Joy, a campaign made in collaboration with SM Cares, the corporate social responsibility arm of SM Supermalls.

The Bears of Joy is a charity project of SM Cares and SM Supermalls that enjoins mall shoppers to share the simple joy of gift-giving to children: With every purchase of the Bears of Joy, another bear is given to the beneficiaries of the project.

The SM Bears of Joy is an annual Christmas charity project of SM Supermalls, Toy Kingdom and SM Cares. A pair of toy bears are sold for P200.00, where one is kept by the mall shopper, and the other bear is donated for charity to orphans or underprivileged children from indigent communities all over the Philippines. Visit any SM Supermalls or Toy Kingdom branch to get your SM Bears of Joy and help make a child happy this Christmas.

To know more about SM Cares, you may visit www.smcares.com.ph, www.facebook.com/OfficialSMCares, or send an e-mail to smcares@smsupermalls.com.

A donation will be made to NVC Foundation for every Landers Ecobag that is sold.

Landers Superstore launches “Give Back Super,” a special feeding program with the Bacolod-based non-stock, non-profit organization Negrense Volunteers for Change (NVC) Foundation, Inc.

Landers members can participate in the Give Back Super program by buying a Christmas Ecobag at any Landers Superstore from November 6 to December 31. With every Christmas Ecobag sold, Landers will donate P5, the price of a Mingo sachet, to NVC Foundation.

Mingo is a nutritious instant complementary food made of locally-sourced rice, mung beans and moringa (malunggay). Sachets of Mingo are served in NVC Foundation’s Nutrition Program for children from poor families. The program is being implemented in 39 provinces in the Philippines.

With its Give Back Super project, Landers will help NVC Foundation bring holiday cheer to impoverished and undernourished children. The Foundation hopes to serve 10 million Mingo meals by January 2020.

For more information about the Give Back Super project, visit http://landers.ph/.

AXA PH executives and participating employees came together to help local charities and causes.

AXA Philippines, one of the country’s leading insurance providers, recently held its Corporate Responsibility Week (CR Week), an annual global event wherein employees from AXA entities all over the world come together to give their time and resources to help local charities and good causes.

Hundreds of AXA employees, led by AXA Philippines president and CEO Rahul Hora, participated in the week-long series of events that took place across the country – from Metro Manila to Cebu and Davao.

The seven-day celebration kicked off with a meal-packing activity to benefit 100 pregnant women in Tondo and Porac, Pampanga; followed by the pipe solar lamp-making activity headed by Liter of Light and its ambassador Illac Diaz, providing light to 100 women and families in Puerto Galera, Mindoro.

Employees also attended disaster preparedness training, and donated blood for the target 1,000 social service patients for the surgical mission of Manila Doctors Hospital.