Early this
year my grandmother joined our creator in Heaven. When she had her last breath,
I was miles apart. She was in General Santos. I was in Manila. Despite that,
I know how blessed she was. On the other side of the archipelago, we think of her every single day
praying for her pain to go away. Until the end she had her loved ones around.
On my 2nd year celebrating my birthday giving
back, she was my inspiration.
In my
search for a home for the aged around Metro Manila, I came across San Lorenzo Ruiz Home for the Elderly of
the Little Sisters of the Poor in
Pasay and the website introduced Sister Rosario.
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| Hello! |
Preparation: A Challenge
During the
preparation stage, I realized the challenge of staging a party for the Elderly.
First challenge was the type of games they play. Would they want the bingo
types? Next was the kind of food they eat as I'm sure they have restrictions
already. Found out that it's chicken and fish. Good thing I never planned for a
Jollibee party. Then there's the loot bags, I had in mind comb, face towels,
socks, rosary, biscuits or duster. But then I haven't asked Sister what they
really need.
So I
decided I should go there for an ocular visit. It was a blessing. I got to ask
what they really needed. Turned out that what I had in mind weren't necessary
but instead, single-sized bed sheets and pillow case were much essential.
After
buying those, packed it individually in a tote and added breads and tetra
packed juice. For games prizes, bought assorted soft breads in the market.
Here was my
simple invite I again made from PicCollage stickers:
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| Simple invite |
A Day with Lolos and Lolas
There were 44
eldery in San Lorenzo Ruiz Home for the Elderly. If I'm not mistaken, 36 of
them were lolas and 8 lolos. The Home for the Aged was huge and we proceeded
with our program in their auditorium.
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| Their auditorium |
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| My lovely hosts again with lolo singing :) |
We played
talent portion where lolas and lolos can either dance or sing. Most of them
sang their heartfelt rendition of mass songs. We also had the longest Happy Birthday
again the winner Lola reached around 22 seconds. Lastly, we danced to the tune
of cha-cha. Some of them can really groove it. It was a touching sight.
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| Go lola! |
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| Wow, singing lola even on wheelchair! |
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| Longeeeeeeest Happy Birthday! |
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| Lolo making chika first :) |
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| You can do it, lola! |
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| Cha cha time! |
And of
course, the best part was eating time. We originally planned to serve them soft
breads but also brought home-cooked special spaghetti and fried chicken for my
friends. And they want it, too! So it was shared by everyone.
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| Before blowing the cake! |
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| Fun with family and friends! |
I just
wished we stayed longer so that we can talk to them at length. But at around
5pm, it was their prayer time already so we were left downstairs. Nevertheless,
it was a fruitful, touching and memorable day. I hope that we've made them
happy even just for a few hours.
Pay It Forward
Again, I
wrote this down because years from now, I want to remember how this day made me
happy. Furthermore, it's hard to find a home for the aged nearby so hope this
article will help the right people.
If you need
to contact them, see the footer below. Meanwhile, let me end with this
beautiful quotation I just saw around the worldwide web: "When God blesses
you financially, don't raise your standard of living. Raise your standard of
giving."
San Lorenzo
Ruiz Home for the Elderly
of the
Little Sisters of the Poor is located at:
50-B
Lancaster St., (along FB Harrison St.)
Pasay City,
Manila
Contact
Sister Rosario or Sister Cecilia at:
Cellphone
number: 0939 375 1362
Telephone
no.: (02)8329689
