With the aim of nurturing the minds of the youth and promote the value of reading books, DMCI Homes launched this month a storytelling and book-giving campaign for less privileged kids – “Bata, TARA Na!” (Towards A Reading Adventure).
Together with advocacy group Books For A Cause, founded by DMCI Homes resident Ramil Sumangil, and non-government organization Philippine Book Library, the ‘Bata, TARA Na!’ campaign kicked off on April 1 with more than 50 less fortunate kids from Pamasawata in Dagat-dagatan, Caloocan City.
“We’ve always been very supportive of the advocacies of our homeowners. Bata, TARA Na! aims to bring books and the importance of reading closer to the hearts of less privileged children,” revealed DMCI Homes corporate communications manager Josephine Cruz.
“We want these kids, especially the out of school youth, to discover a different kind of adventure through reading. We want them to gain knowledge, boost their imagination, creativity and most of all, learn good values by reading books,” Cruz added.
With employee volunteers from the real estate company, the kids enjoyed the special program prepared for them including games, gift-giving and storytelling, which was the highlight of the event.
“Reading a fable to children of Pamasawata was a very uplifting experience. Seeing the glow in their eyes and their enthusiasm on how will the story ends was truly priceless,” shared senior marketing research analyst Charissa Cortuna.
Aside from storytelling, DMCI Homes also donated new and pre-loved children’s books to the community’s little library maintained by French couple, Katia and Henri Ollivier, volunteers of international non-government group Phil Rouge which supports the Philippine Book Library.
“We are grateful to DMCI Homes and Books for A Cause for all the books given to us, and for making this day very special for the children,” Katia Ollivier said. She revealed that the library, which can house 20 kids, is open at least two hours from Wednesday to Saturday. On the remaining days of the week, the group holds street readings with volunteer Percy Tan doing the storytelling as well as catechism.
The donated books were mostly children’s books collected from Give the Gift of Reading, a book drive project of DMCI Homes and its communities all over the metro last year. Other books from the said book drive were donated to Books for a Cause. The event also celebrated BFAC’s 5th anniversary.
The activity was held at the Pamasawata Learning Center, a small room primarily used as chapel but also used as daycare center during school days. Located above the chapel is the small reading room of Philippine Book Library, the first stop of Bata, TARA Na!, the latest corporate social responsibility campaign of major real estate developer DMCI Homes under its Kaakbay program.
★★★★★
Free hugs from Ejay Falcon
Many researches show that hugging is a very powerful therapy capable of treating health and emotional problems. Records of personal experiences also proved that hugging is truly effective at healing sickness, disease, loneliness, depression, anxiety, and stress. Famous family therapist Virginia Satir insists that four hugs support survival, eight hugs for maintenance, and twelve hugs for growth.
Sharing the same belief, Psalmstre declared April 15 to May 31 as “Free-Hug Season.” The leading skincare company, through its celebrity endorsers, will give free hugs to its patrons. Yes, New Placenta endorsers PBB alumnus Ejay Falcon, Mr. Puerto Rico International 2015 Fernando Alvarez, Dolce Amore’s Laurence Mossman, and Miss Earth-Air 2012 Stephany Stefanowitz will be giving free hugs to lucky fans and patrons of New Placenta for Men and Women, as their way of saying “Thank you.”
Catch these celebrity endorsers in their 47-day meet-and-greet promo tour in selected supermarkets, superstores, groceries, and drugstores in Metro Manila and nearby Luzon areas. The activity includes autograph-signing, picture-taking, and free-hugging sessions.