Tuesday, October 03, 2006

Egay and his family picked us up early this morning. We bought some juices and medicine for Ericson's stomach upset on our way to St. Peter's Funeral Home.

We arrived there at Room F at 8 am this morning. Rev. Fr. Oscar Avelino held the mass. Alex's Room was in order and the kitchen had been cleaned up earlier. When the mass ended, Rev. Fr. Avelino blessed Alex and family members had been all very emotional.

At Forest Park Memorial, my brother's family were all in tears and very emotional. In our hearts, it's hard to accept Alex is gone and this will be the last time we're going to look at her angelic face.

More family members, friends, and relatives on both sides kept coming to pay last respect for Alex.

Alexandra was buried at 10:30 am.

I'd like to thank Randy for his generosity and full support to my family.

Meanwhile, Randy had root implant and was unable to sleep until past 10 this evening Manila time due to severe pain. He's supposed to go to bed at 12 MN San Diego time (3 pm Manila time) but, he reamained awake until I had fallen asleep while chatting with him.

Randy posted also some news from Save the Children. Please check them out!

Saturday, July 15, 2006

Randy and I were discussing about our future and how we will handle our finances when he told me that Save The Children was billing him US$ 32.00 a month since February this year. That's US$ 4.00 higher than what he's paying since October 2004!

To date, Save The Children received the total amount of US$ 640.00:
US$  84.00 - Oct 2004 - Dec 2004
      336.00 - Jan 2005 - Dec 2005
        28.00 - Jan 2006
      192.00 - Feb 2006 - Jul 2006

Blogshares player, Anders Ohlsson, highest bidder in our eBay Charity auction paid the amount of US$204.62 on November 06, 2004 via Pay Pal to Randy for winning eBay Item number: 5931505136 (B$ 5,082,587,364,374.20, 50,158 chips, 4,500,000 Ideas)!

Randy paid from his pocket US$ 435.38 to this date, and will continue to support our sponsored child, Sarah Alea, until she reaches 18 years old. Save The Children - Philippines Field Office knew the donations were from the generous contributions of Blogshares players, and we want to keep it that way. To those who do not know yet, we met our sponsored child on April 21 and 22 this year.

Contrary to the false accusations posted by db a.k.a PnP under BSEC thread on July 09, 2006, 11:42:23 pm, PnP a.k.a Alvino won our B$ 15 T eBay auction in the amount of US$ 802.56 for which the blogshares dollars transfered into his account had been used in the game well and pushed himself up to the top richest players' list.

To know the history of what we have done in the past auctions, please visit Charity and Online Auction links in this blog.

Randy sponsored many blogshares players to get premium memberships and had been donating big amount every time there's calamities but that's between us and God. If ever someday Randy and I will hit a lottery, we have this big dream of supporting a foundation for abandoned women and children.

We're just waiting for it to happen one of these days...

Saturday, April 22, 2006

We cooked breakfast for the kids befoire doing shopping with Sarah and her family.

Then, we took our BS sponsored child, Sarah, to SM Sucat for some grocery items and a pair of sandals as the pair she was wearing were rented from a friend for two pesos, about 4 cents American dollars.

We started out at 10 AM when Rose Marie and Fred, the driver, dropped by at my place to pick us up. Again the traffic was terrible as MMDA was doing some road works along Epifanio delos Santos Avenue (EDSA). Randy was starting to learn the names of some of the cities around here. Anyway near the airport is Tramo, Parañaque City where Sarah and her family live in a depressed area.

We met Sarah, Shiela, and their mother up at McDonalds and then took a short drive over to the SM Sucat Mall. On the way, we were talking about possible places to eat when I suggested Chow King and we found that the kids had not been there yet, so Chow King it was.

We parked the van in a basement and met Riel at Chow King. I asked the people to prepare a table for 10 people then, we sat down to a meal of Sweet and Sour Pork, Chicken, Pancit Bihon, Rice and other stuff. The meal was great and the kids really enjoyed our lunch.

Lunch with Randy, Tintin, Save the Children staffs,
Sarah and her family.

Riel with Sarah and family (left). Randy with Sarah (right).

We went ahead and filled up a shopping cart with grocery items and then took them to Tramo where we put them on a tricycle for home. It was great to see the smiles on Sarah and her sister's face as they left, even though we have the feeling that their mother would probably sell some of the food for cash. Sort of how the welfare folks in the states do as what Randy told me...

We would like to thank the staffs of Save The Children - Philippine Field Office for allowing us to meet our (Blogshares) sponsored child. They gave us some newsletters and Save The Children profile for reference of their charity programs.

Please visit also Randy's blog:

• Shopping with Sarah
• Sarah, our sponsored child
• Letter from Save the Children
• Letter from Sarah
• Save the children
• News

Friday, April 21, 2006

I had a problem with myDSl connection and it prevented me to access my favorites sites. I sent them a complaint message.

We did breakfast and had eaten with the kids before meeting Rose and Fred to meet Riel and Save The Children staffs plus our (BlogShares) sponsored child, Sarah Alea.

Staffs of the Save The Children - Philippines Field Office.

After meeting the staffs and Riel briefed us about Save The Children. We then meet Sarah and her family who were waiting for us at McDonald's. Sarah's mother works as a fish vendor but, it is a really low paying job which is equivalent of 4 -5 dollars a day. Anyway, I learned a lot about the program by talking to some of the Save The Children workers and Sarah's family. Sarah didn't speak English so I translated the conversation to Randy.

Randy, me, and Sarah.

Sarah with her mother and sister.

We then went to a community center where they were teaching job skills with materials they have available. Randy felt really bad as this was an extremely poor area, but the folks at the center were working hard, and there were many volunteers there helping them out.

Tomorrow, we will be taking Sarah out on a shopping trip to a mall. We were thinking of school supplies but after I talked with Sarah, I guess we will be going to do grocery shopping instead, as Sarah prefers grocery items and rice for her family. As a rule, we are not allowed to give any cash donations to Sarah or her family.

Anyway, after that it was time for the long ride home. My left knee gave me so much pain. Somehow, it is really nice to finally put a real child in place of the picture and letters.

We're excited to take her and family out for shopping tomorrow...

Tuesday, January 10, 2006

I received a call this afternoon from Riel Andaluz c/o Save the Children - Philippines chapter. She explained to me they were able to read our invitation for Sarah last Christmas today only due to their Holiday break and that Randy, being the sponsor, should fill out Sponsor Visit Application form. I also received a copy of her email to Randy:

"We received the letter you had intended for Sarah inviting her and her family last Christmas. We regret that we have only received the letter today and thus were not able to arrange your meeting with your sponsored child and her family. After reading the letter, I immediately contacted Laila and learned more about your plan. As may have mentioned to you by Laila, due to the recent holiday, we were not able to pick up mails from our PO Box."

Riel visited this blog and have read my 'LUNCH WITH THE ORPHANS' entry. I told her since we didn't meet Sarah Alea on December 25th, we decided to treat other kids instead. Anyway, after filling out a Sponsor Visit Application form, we might be able to meet Ma. Sarah Estrada Alea in person soon.

Monday, December 26, 2005

Vera, my best friend, arranged in my behalf to have lunch with some kids, along with their guardians from Ating Familia Foundation, located at 441 San Pablo St., San Antonion Valley, Parañaque City. We took them to a lunch at Jollibee - Sucat branch.

Tuesday, December 13, 2005

Randy and I planned to give Ma. Sarah Alea and her family a surprise Christmas treat on the 25th of this month.

Since we have only 12 days left before Christmas, I decided to drop the invitation directly to Save-the-children Philippine Affiliate P. O. Box no. 4448. I am hopeful her guardian will contact me on or before the 25th to set the meeting schedule.

Sunday, November 07, 2004

The first BlogShares for charity's auction has ended on Nov 6th at 15:07:51 PST. Many thanks to those generous players who donated their fantasy wealth and real money too, likewise to those who bid and made the auction a success. The winner of Item number: 5931505136 (B$ 5,082,587,364,374.20, 50,158 chips, 4,500,000 Ideas), was Anders Ohlsson, highest bidder in the amount of US$204.62!

Save A child Blog has been created today at http://saveachild.blogdrive.com/ as (unofficial) BlogShares For Charity site. The site is still under construction but hopefully, details of our donations will all be available there soon...

May God bless us all and I'm looking forward for a bigger and united BlogShares community!

Wednesday, November 03, 2004

BlogShares Charity's Save The Children now holds its first auction from collected donations given by concerned players. To qualify to bid, you should be a BlogShares registered player. To register, click here.

Auction is currently going on at eBay, place your bid now!

I was upset when Randy informed me ten days ago that our recipient, Cherry, will be replaced by Save The Children International because Cherry and their family moved to an unknown location. Glad they found a replacement, named Sarah, another ten year old girl from the same Tramo area.

I was hesitant to pursue with the eBay auction but they got a new girl for us to sponsor her elementary education for just US$28.00 a month. Many of BlogShares generous players are looking forward to the success of this charity project, inspired by the wealth we gained by simply playing on BlogShares Fantasy Stock Market...

Friday, October 08, 2004

Randy received a message today from Save The Children Organization, with subject line: MEET YOUR SPONSORED CHILD:

Field Office: Philippines Field Office Donor ID: 1374025-1
Child ID: 08206304 Sponsorship #: 480115653
Name: Cherry Salentes
Gender: Female
Impact Area: Metro Manila
Date of Birth: September 13, 1994 Community Name: Tramo

Read the entire message: MEET YOUR SPONSORED CHILD

Sunday, October 03, 2004

Randy a.k.a. RWO, informed me that he already selected a child to support in the Philippines through Save the Children Organizations. Due to his excitement, he has forgotten to save the URL and informations about Cherry but fortunately, an e-card has been sent to him, with Cherry's photo! Let's welcome Cherry, the recipient of US$28.00 monthly BlogShares for Charity sponsorship, in behalf of fellow BlogShares players!

Click photo to view Cherry's File photo
OR, view the eCard

We already received from fellow generous BlogShares players US$ cash and, pledges in chips, B$ and ideas will be auctioned on November 1 on eBay to support Cherry's education monthly. If things run favorably, we're planning to sponsor another child, preferably a boy in New York.

We are still discussing whether to put up a separate blog for our BlogShares sponsored children. Save the Children is an exerted effort to put our BlogShares winnings to a worthwhile cause. So, please... wish us all the luck!

Friday, October 01, 2004

Randy and I have been discussing how we can use the massive wealth that we made in BlogShares. It must actually count for something: Why not support a BlogShares child, or two, or three?

We can sell the profits we make on eBay and turn the real cash into a charity!

So starting this month we are accepting donations. They can be B$, chips, ideas or anything else. At the end of the month we will take all that we have collected and auction it off on eBay. We will then use the money to sponsor chidren under the 'Save the Children' fund.

Since we announced it, we have already gained enough money to sponsor two children due to the generosity of one of the fellow BlogShares players. We will post the person's name after Randy ask him if it is ok to publish his name, as some folks like to remain anonymous.

We had thought this is an excellent way to donate to a charity and help some underprivileged folks. We will post on both of our blogs any correspondences we get from our sponsored kids.

Randy will also post his paypal statements after blacking out his personal informations for transparency purposes.

We have placed a PayPal button on our sites if you would like to donate some real cash. We will be adopting these children as part of the BlogShares community, not in our names or anything. It has cost us nothing but, our premium membership to get where we are, why not take some of the game wealth and put it to good use?

Thanks for any support you may give.

Randy and Laila*

Friday, September 24, 2004

Angelito Songco sent me e-mail on 9/24/2004 8:09 PM and informed me of his interest to solicit support on his Sampung Mga Daliri Project next month, October. He said they are planning to film a documentary video featuring the rights of Filipino children.

I still have to verify the authenticity of this project and in case this plan will push through, I'm going to make a new blog about this...

im angelito l. songco since i decided to comeback in the philippines from my long journey to United States,i felt something unusual feeling in my heart when it comes to the rigths of a child here in the philippines.so on that point i saw myself advocating the rigths of the child.mayron kaming project dito sa pilipinas tungkol sa karapatan ng bata sa darating na oktubre at mangangailangan kami ng suporta sa katulad mong nakakaintindi ng ipinaglalaban ko.magkakaroon kami ng info-docu-drive production para maisadula sa pamamagitan ng video ang nasabibg proyekto na pinamagatang "Sampung mga Daliri" alam kong hulog ka ng langit sa akin upang mabawasan ang pag iisip ko kung papaanong magkakaroon ng katuparan ang proyektong ito.umaasa ako bibigyan mo ng pansin ang aking kahilingan.alam kong hindi mo ako kakilala,pero naniniwala ako na hindi ito mangyayaring sulatan ka kung hindi ka pinadala ng maykapal para matulungan mo ang batang narririto sa pilipinas.pls.help us !

GOD bless and more Power

Direk Angel Songco.