Valentine's 2012 Event for TFG: Visit to Virlanie Foundation on February 18, 2012

[Tricia]

Ang galing! Sana maulit muli in the near future para kasama na ako hehe

[Angus]

Hi Fellas!

I just received an email from Kirsty. I just want to share it here for the benefit of everyone.


Dear Good Reads Book Club Members,

Thank you so much for coming to visit Virlanie on Saturday the 18th of February and inspiring our young adults to read more. As I had mentioned to the team who initially came to visit Virlanie, our teenagers don't get may visits or extra curricular activities so this was a great treat for them. In addition, Virlanie is always hoping for educational visits and materials, both of which your club generously provided- thank you!

I hope you all had a great time, please do send me some photos from the event as we would love to have them for our records. I am sorry i could not spend longer with you on the day but am glad I got to meet you all and thank you again for your time.

In addition, 236 books donated- WOW! What a wonderful resource for our children, thank you all so much for contributing:-) Reading can really change a person and a book can often be a constructive source of escape, something that provokes thought and/or something that provides hope or solidarity. This is exactly what our children need and we really do appreciate your wonderful donation in support of this.

Should any of you wish to learn more about Virlanie's Homes and Programs, please do visit our website at http://www.virlanie.org/ and if you would like to come and tour our homes, volunteer, donate, or get involved with Virlanie in any other way please let me know and I will me happy to assist.

Many thanks again from myself, the children, and Virlanie Foundation as a whole.

Best wishes,

Kirsty

[K.D.]

Touched! *hay*

Balik na lang tayo sa Virlanie next year.

Emir: I will make a blow-by-blow account later this week. I owe this to the donors like you.

Medyo toxic lang dito sa office.

[Veronica]

Thanks Angus, this made my day. :)

Congrats TFG!

[Angus]

I hope you don't mind if I sent a short note of our appreciation. I did make a subtle point that we are not Goodreads, but Goodreads - The Filipino Group. :)

[[deleted user]]

Angus,

I'll provide a copy of the pictures. I'll send Rowell an FB message for the vids.

[Angus]

Oh my, nahihiya naman ako sa videos. Pero sige lang, wholesome naman sila, hahaha.

[Tuklas Pahina (TP)]

@ Grabe! nakaka-touched naman na alala ko tuloy iyong quote sa The Little Prince:

"It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."

TFG FOREVER MORE!...

[Kristel]

Congratulations, guys! I'm excited to see the photos and videos. :D

[Angus]

Patrick, thanks too for coming!

Kristel, sama ka next time! I think we met someone from your office. :D

[K.D.]

Meet Up Diary
Virlanie Outreach
Saturday, February 18th
by K.D.

Pasensyahan ang grammar. Sa probinsiya po ako nag-elementary at high school. Nasa maliit po na isla ang bayan namin. Nguni't dahil sa may mga foreigners na nagbigay para sa outreach na ito, English po ang sulat ko. Har har.

Tapos, ang isusulat ko po rito ay experiences ko po noong araw na yon. Hindi ko po alam yong sa iba. Ginagawa ko po ito para may record at para rin po doon sa mga nag-donate ng pera at libro. Sinusulat ko po ito during office break dahil may 8-5 work po ako at di full time (at wala po akong suweldo rito) dito sa GR-TFG har har.

--------------------

I left home at 8:15 a.m. and arrived at Aristocrat Roxas Blvd at around 9:15 a.m. Charles and Ruby were already there. I treated them to lunch. We were eating when Jzhunagev arrived. He was unhappy like what Charles had told me. Charles saw a Twitter update the other day. I got scared a bit. I thought that Jzhunagev would not come to the event but he was there so I was very thankful.

We passed by at Booksale in Harrison Plaza to see Roseamongthorns who donated P2,000. It was our first time to see Rose in person. She was very active in GR-TFG before and it was very nice of her to contribute and trust us by giving her money. She said that if she did not have work that day, she would go with us to the event. Charles invited Rose to meet up since their offices were near each other. Rose agreed. Thank you, Rose and I hope to see you in one of the events someday.

We also bought cakes at Red Ribbon Harrison Plaza and of course we shopped at Booksale. I even took one book without paying. I got confused while talking with Rose and I did not know that I put the book inside my bag har har.

Anyways, we arrived at Virlanie Gabay Home at around 12:35 p.m. We met Paulyn and Angelo (the two teenagers we talked with during the occular) who informed us that the event would be held at Elizabeth Homes. Angelo even pointed at their stuffs already packed. They would be moving to another house since they needed to be trained how to commute in preparation to their leaving Virlanie few years from now. So, we (Jzhun, Ruby, Charles and I) went with the two kids going to Elizabeth. We walked under the hot noontime sun for maybe 20 mins. My knee was complaining when we arrived at the venue.

We went up three stairs and they led us to a library. The library was clean with more books than what we saw during the ocular at Gabay Homes. It has two rows of encyclopedia books. It has workstations all around except the side with bookshelves and the side with windows. There were two electric fans but the other one was not working.

Kirsty was there and she asked us to sign the visitor's sheet of Virlanie. While I was signing, the other members of GR arrived. I guess these were the passengers of J.L. Jzhunagev included. Jzhun asked Kirsty to sign the acknowledgement record and also gave her a copy of the book list. Then the passengers of Veronica arrived. Ranee asked me about the partners that I announced in the thread. It dawned on me that there might be members who did not read the thread. So, I went in the middle of the room and explained the schedule for that afternoon.

Then I asked Kirsty to say something as a form of welcome to us. She did and she left. She also gave instruction to Kikay Reader since she assumed that she was the group's official photographer. She said Kikay Reader could take all the pictures she wanted, and post it in the internet as long as no mentioning of names to avoid miscommunication and to protect the identity of the teenagers.

Then the program started. Angus was the emcee (decided maybe only the day before) and imagine the heat and the very small space for the 50+ of us in there. Angus did a good job. He went around the room, trying to make the kids open up to us. He succeeded in a way since most of the kids introduced themselves and told us their favorite books. Mostly were on Pinoy books particularly Bob Ong, Harry Potter and other YA books that I was not familiar with.

Ah, I forgot the Pinoy Henyo game. Jzhun and Angus picked 3 Virlanie teenagers and 1 TFG member. The TFG member introduced the Virlanie teenagers. I thought it was a good idea since the TFG member had to ask the teenagers prior to going in the middle to play. The interaction was excellent. I noticed at this point that the teenagers were already getting at ease with us.

Then we ate. Cary was there nga pala for the invocation at the start. Then she also accepted her instant assignment of being the one to make "takal" the food on the paper plates. Then I noticed that others right away took the cue of helping Cary. They opened the bilaos, hand over the paper plates with spaghetti and lumpiang shanghai and then Zesto. Then I was the one who opened the cakes since dessert yon and Veronica helped me slicing them and handing them over after they finished their spaghetti.

Then after eating, we changed the plan. Instead of small breakaway groups as originally planned, round robin na lang. Each of the participant told their names, favorite book and how it inspired them as a teenager (moral lesson) for the GR-TFG members. For the teenagers, favorite book na lang.
We had no choice, we were tired from heat and some of us were just standing by the window. There were no enough space unless we would go out at the walkway or garage area downstairs. I was not sure if the "nanays" would allow that since some of the teenagers were special children.

So, after the round robin was already the turning over of books. THe children went to the box and started getting their choices. But the "nanay" went inside the room and said to return all those books since they would distribute them equally to each of Virlanies Homes.

Then my closing remarks. Then picture taking. Then cleanup. (Veronica was very specific on this. Ranee brought green plastic bags).

Then we thought we would go to Baang Coffee for the post-assessment meeting. Kaso, there were customers on the second floor (that we used during the F2F 1984 event). So, we went to MusicBox (not sure of the name) and got ourselves a room (also to sing and drink afterwards) and did our meeting there. I think Cary already posted the minutes somewhere before this message.

Those who attended (for the record):

1. K.D.
2. Jzhun
3. Ruby
4. Charles
5. Ranee
6. Veronica
7. Po
8. Kikay Reader
9. J.L.
10. Maria
11. Mariel
12. Rowell
13. Patrick
14. Nicole
15. Kwesi
16. Rollie
17. Cary
18. Sheryl
19. Jho (Josephine)
20. Mark (Jho's husband)
21. Angus
22. Aaron
23. Aries

Basta ang confirmed na di dumating si Ayban (with apologies) at si Ariel.

Yon lang. Ayaw ko nang pagusapan ang post-assessment. Pero enjoy naman ang kantahan.

[Angus]

KD: Parang Chapter 1 pa lang ito. Wow, nakakatuwa naman si Rose, thank you!

[Rollie]

Natawa ako sa book na di nabayaran. :D Buti nalang walang detector ang BS. :D

[K.D.]

Psst. First time kong mag-shoplift har har.

[rosesamongthorns]

K.D. wrote: "Psst. First time kong mag-shoplift har har."

Natawa naman ako..sa shoplifting na yan. : ) Baka singilin ako sa Booksale Harison.

[Rollie]

Di mo naman sinasadya. May naalala ako. Di yung ibang sho-shop lift sa ibang dep't store pinopost yung picture. :D Buti nalang BS yun kundi paktay tayo diyan. :D

[K.D.]

Rose: Babayaran ko yon pag bumalik ako roon har har. At babalik ako roon kasi doon maga-aral ang daughter ko starting May this year.

Ganun ako nataranta (kasi first time kitang nakita), napunta yong libro sa bag ko without me knowing it. Alam mo bang hanap ako ng hanap noong umalis ka na. "San na ba yong librong yon?" sabi ko sa sarili ko. Narinig pa nga ni Charles at ikot ako ng ikot. har har.


Tsaka nga pala, for those who donated money, Ranee promised to post a list (we'll create a thread na sya lang ang puwedeng mag-post ng messages) of the donors (mostly anonymous) and their contributions.

We had a total of P12,000 cash from the pledges. Including yours, Rose. Then we spent P8,000 yata. So may P4,000 pa kami for the next outreach. Not sure exactly about the amount pero parang ganito.

Ranee will itemize the expenses later. Busy lang siguro. We are also planning to open a BPI bank account (under my, Ranee's and Veronica's and/or names) not later than end of this month. We'll keep you posted.

[Veronica]

KD, Nicole ang pangalan nung newbie na nag-attend, hindi Monica. Andun si Ariel! Ayan kasi, ang tahimik ni Ariel eh pero maganda ang boses kumanta. :)

Si Lady Ella, sa videoke nagpunta.

[Rollie]

Wala si Ariel dun. Si Aries lang. :D

[Veronica]

Ay Aries pala! Sorry Aries! Haha

[Josephine]

K.D. wrote: "Meet Up Diary
Virlanie Outreach
Saturday, February 18th
by K.D.

Pasensyahan ang grammar. Sa probinsiya po ako nag-elementary at high school. Nasa maliit po na isla ang bayan namin. Nguni't dahil s..."

Hi K.D., his name is Mark :) Sa AINHS ka ba nag-HS? ^_^

[K.D.]

Diary corrected. Pag sinipag ako bukas iku-kuwento ko yong sa Videoke pati na si Lady Ella (aka Maria Ella).

Jho: Hindi. Sa QCI po. :) May high school naman sa amin noon. Isa lang. Ngayon yata 3 na. May public na at yong isa sa linang (baryo).

[Ranee]

GUYS! NA-TOXIC SA PRIMARY WORK KO.
Heto na ang inaabangan na Financial Report!
(di pala lumalabas ang table dito)

CASH INFLOW:
MEMBER DONATION
1.) 5,000
2.) 2,000 (Roseamongthorns)
3.) 1,500
4.) 1,000
5) 1,000
6.) 1,000
7.) 500
8.) 100.50 (ayaw nang pabayad)
TOTAL 12,100.50




CASH OUTFLOW (SUMMARY)
Items: (unit Price) [Due price]
NBS
plastic cover 25 meters (18.00/meter) [450.00]
Adhesive Tape 10 pcs (5.75)[57.50]
Dispenser 1pc (34.75) [34.75]

Food:
Amber’s spaghetti 4 bilao (900.00/bilao) [3,600]
Amber’s lumpiang shanghai 150 pcs (8.00/pc) [1,200]

Drinks:
Zest-O Orange and Apple 5 boxes of 10’s (54.00/box) [270.00]
Zest-O Mango 3 boxes of 10’s (59.00/box) [177.00]

Utensils:
Forks 12 pcs of pack of 12’s (11.00/pack) [132.00]
Paper plates 2 pcs of pack of 50’s (22.00/pack) [44.00]
Cake plates 3 pcs of pack of 25’s (27.50/pack) [82.50]
Table napkins 1 pack (22.75/pack) [22.75]
Tube Ice 2 packs (15.00/pack) [30.00]

TOTAL: 6,100.50

Cash donations 12,100.50
Expenses 6,100.50
Cash on hand 6000.00

[Ranee]

Heto naman ang miscellaneous donations (other than books and effort)

Food:
Roll Cakes by kuya Doni (sarap!)
Pork Bbq by Ms. Veronica (sarap din!)
Water by Ms. Veronica(pangtanggal pagod)

Nonfood:
Knives/serving spoons by Ms. Veronica (sarap gumamit ng plastic knife for a change)
plastic trash bags by Ranee (green para sa wet wastes)
stickers by Jzhun (di mapapantayan ang galing mo, sana sticker ka na lang, para mai-didikit kita dito sa puso ko )
photo documentation by Kikayreader (lahat ng angulo, kuha)
video documentation by Rowell (asa youtube na ba ito?)

[K.D.]

Thanks, Ranee. Ayan, malinaw na.

[Ranee]

Salamat ke Cary sa minutes
Salamat sa accent ni Rollie
Salamat sa bagong loveteam ng taon, Cary + Rollie (Callie?)
Salamat sa resident singer ng grupo, Lady Ella
Salamat sa resident rapper/dancer/emcee and all around formidable, Angus
Salamat sa pagiging Kuya mo KD, as in, all aspects (financial, emotional, organizational,lahat-lahat na!)
Salamat sa pagbubukas ng iyong tahanan sa amin, Ms. Veronica, di biro ang patuluyin ang mga makukulit na tulad namin
Salamat sa talento at henyo mo Jzhun, ikaw na, kung passion ang pag-uusapan sa iyo kami bumubunot ng lakas, isang ehemplo na tumatatak sa aming puso
Salamat sa lahat ng nagpunta
Salamat sa nagpledge at nagdonate ng pera
Salamat sa nag-effort at nagpakasaya sa araw na iyun
Salamat sa ating lahat sa TFG, one goal reached, a thousand happiness achieved.

Huwag magsawa! Pero kung iisipin, di naman talaga nakakasawa ang pagmamahal sa libro man o sa kapwa.

Valentine's date? achieved na achieved, saan ka pa, eh di sa Virlanie na!

[Apokripos]

Nyaks!

Tinalo ako ni Dr Ranee sa pick up line! Hahaha! : D

Salamat din sa iyo Doktora at nag-volunteer ka sa Financial committee at isa talagang mahirap na gawain ang pagba-budget.

Maraming salamat dahil kahit nakalinya na ang mga pasyente iyong ooperahan, nand'yang inuna mo pa rin asikasuhin ang maliit nating proyekto.

Salamat!

Tagumpay nating lahat ito! ^_^
*sabay bukas ng Emperador Light*