Sponsor A Noche Buena Has Been a Success! Thanks to Everyone who Helped Out.

The fundraising project for typhoon Haiyan victims that we have initiated has been successful. You may refer to these posts for the background of the project:

http://www.citygirldiaries.com/2013/11/sponsor-noche-buena-for-typhoon-haiyan.html

http://www.citygirldiaries.com/2013/11/updated-sponsor-noche-buena-for-typhoon.html

We were able to send out 1,550 holiday baskets to the victims. Thanks so much to everyone who helped. We received a lot of help from New York, Dubai, New Zealand, and of course, the Philippines. We even got featured on GMA News TV and WheninManila.com.

http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/video/186034/stateofthenation/isang-grupo-nangangalap-ng-pang-noche-buena-para-sa-mga-nasalanta-ng-bagyo

http://www.wheninmanila.com/sponsor-a-noche-buena-rebuilding-leyte-through-baskets-of-hope/

Again, thanks to everyone who helped. Let's continue praying for the victims of typhoon Haiyan for their quick recovery.

xoxo,

city girl

UPDATED: Sponsor A Noche Buena for Typhoon Haiyan Victims

UPDATE:

We moved our fundraising site from Fundrazr.com to YouCaring.com due to additional charges by Fundrazr. As much as possible, we want to minimize on that so we could maximize the donations we can give to the victims.

You may now send your donations to: http://www.youcaring.com/help-a-neighbor/holiday-baskets-of-hope-for-typhoon-haiyan-victims/108814

We also revamped our Facebook page so please like and share: www.facebook.com/SponsorANocheBuena. On this page, you can see how you can help. We are open to partnering with companies that are interested to sponsor or offer discounted items for the Noche Buena and holiday baskets. You may also send us clothes and toys as donations. 

For Philippines-based individuals, you can sponsor a Noche Buena and a Basket of Hope for one family affected by typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda) with only Php 500. Please see the photo below for more info.

I hope you can support this endeavor. Thank you in advance. Let's keep praying and helping our brothers and sisters who have been affected by the super typhoon. May God continue to bless us all.

Charity Garage Sale for Typhoon Haiyan Victims

Last Sunday, November 17, my friends and I had a garage sale for the benefit of the victims of super typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda). We rummaged our own closets to sell our stuff, including the branded ones. A lot of our friends came to bring stuff and to help out in assisting shoppers. Here's the cool poster made by our friend Chris Roxas, a graphic artist and owner of XS Designs.

The garage sale was held at Farah Ramos' residence in Parang, Marikina at 12nn to 6p.m. A lot of shoppers from the neighborhood came to support our cause. We had so much fun during the garage sale. Our friends from OOTDfied (follow them on IG, @OOTDfied) online clothing store also sold brand new clothes at affordable prices. Another friend also sold really yummy chicharon from Bulacan.

OOTDfied

playing with the costume haha

At the end of the day, we earned a total of Php 6,700 -- not bad for half a day of selling. Since a lot more stuff were left, we'll be holding another garage sale at the same venue next week. Besides that, we'll also have a one-day online flash sale of our pre-loved branded items via www.heywhereyou.com. The date of the sale shall be announced soon. And we're doing all of these for our fellow Filipinos who were struck by typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda).

Let's keep praying for the victims of the typhoon. They need us now so let's not get tired of helping them in any way we can.

xoxo,

city girl

Sponsor A Noche Buena for Typhoon Haiyan Victims

Please support our project for the victims of typhoon Haiyan. We are raising money so we can hold a Christmas party for the typhoon victims in one of the affected communities in Northern Iloilo in Panay Island, Philippines. We plan to have a simple yet meaningful Christmas feast for the victims to give them hope and make them happy, most especially because it will be hard for them to feel the spirit of Christmas with what happened to them. Besides having an early "Noche Buena", we'll be also giving away holiday baskets to the families and toys for the kids. We really hope you could support this cause.

For your donations, visit https://fundrazr.com/campaigns/2des6. Please also like and share our Facebook page: www.facebook.com/SponsorANocheBuena.

Sponsor A Noche Buena initiative, a disaster relief project in partnership with Sigma Alpha Nu, a Sorority of University of the Philippines, aims to help provide holiday gift baskets to 1,000 families who are victims of Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines. 

Typhoon Haiyan is said to beone of the biggest and most destructive natural calamity that hit the Philippines in the recent years. This disaster is feared to have taken at least 2,000 lives (as of this writing), left thousands injured and missing, hundreds of thousands homeless and at least 2 million people in need of food, water, and medicine. These numbers are expected to soar as search and rescue continue.

This cause was started by a facebook group "Sponsor A Noche Buena" launched by Kei Obusan, who wondered how Christmas will be spent by these people in this very upsetting condition. In the Philippines, Noche Buena is a special Filipino tradition where families get together on Christmas eve to share food and gifts. Imagine being homeless at a time when the rest of the world are celebrating in fancy clothes giving grand gifts to each other. Imagine those children who are out in the cold desperately finding comfort in their temporary shelter. This project is for those people who deserve to be given a spark of hope. A little gift from us who are very fortunate to have Internet running and clean water to drink anytime we want. 

Each "basket of hope" will be filled with some typical noche buena items, some toys for the kids, a letter of kindness from the volunteers and donors, and other stuff that we can give to (hopefully) lighten the burden that the victims are going through. At $10, you can already sponsor a basket that can bring joy to these families.

This campaign will serve as a launchpad to invite partnerships, companies or individuals with the heart of gold who are willing to sacrifice their $10 for the affected families of this calamity. 

Your help is needed. Share your blessings! Thank you. 

FASTBREAK Charity Game

This is probably the funniest basketball game I've ever seen! And the best part...it's for a good cause!:)

It's more than just a basketball. It's entertainment! This charity basketball game is a bright idea of Kiefer Ravena, the Ateneo cager, MVP of UUAP, and son of former basketball player and currently Talk N' Text Coach Bong Ravena. Kiefer, together with his friends in basketball (some are celebrities), and Ignite Media worked on this project with less than a month of preparation. With the common goal of helping the victims of Typhoon Sendong in Cagayan de Oro and Iligan City, this team cause-oriented people were able to put a great show.

There are also a lot of company sponsors who contributed to this cause. The voluntary presence of different male celebrities are also of great help to the team. And when it comes to ticket sales, well a lot of girls were actually there so I believe the game has raised enough for Sendong victims. haha! The San Juan Arena seemed to be a bit packed.:)

So there were two teams: Meralco Red and Smart White. To name a few players of Smart White were Kiefer Ravena, Chris Tiu, Jhong Hilario, Rico Blanco, Luis Alandi, Marco Alcaraz, Champ of Hale, and Jose Manalo. For the Meralco Red were John Hall, Nico Salva, Thirdy Ravena, Jai Reyes, Young JV, Gab Valenciano, Tado, and Gerald Anderson. Yeah, it's indeed a starstudded line-up! However, I was expecting Xian Lim to be there as he was originally a part of the line-up. Also, I just need to mention that Vice Ganda came to the event.

the teams

 glad that my girls came :)

Gerald took a photo w/ the sick child in front of us

For the halftime, Maynilad sponsored the 3-point Shootout wherein the winner receives Php 5,000.00 cash to be donated to the Sendong victims as well. Those who took part in the 3-point shootout were Chris Ellis of NLEX Road Warriors, Mark Zambrano, James Yap, and Allan Caidic. The winner was Allan Caidic! And I was the one who awarded him haha! Also a "Teach Me How to Dougie" dance contest was conducted wherein participants came from the audience. Some of the players also showed a "sample" of this dance craze. Another halftime game was conducted and I don't know what it's called. They come in pairs and must be able to shoot the most with their partners at a given time. One pair had Chris Tiu and another pair had Bong Ravena. That was probably the longest halftime break ever!

 3 point shootout winner Allan Caidic and other contestants: Chris Ellis, James Yap, Mark Zambrano

Then the craziness went on in the 3rd Quarter. Jose Manalo finally arrived. Just when I though that the craziest part of the game was finding Jhong Hilario tumbling first before shooting the ball, I was so wrong! Because when Jose Manalo came, we enevr stopped laughing! He took the microphone and acted like "Budoy", the role of Gerald Anderson in his primetime teleserye. Then Gerald faced him and they both acted like Budoy! Super funny!!! LOL!:)) And it didn't stop there. Towards the end of the 3rd quarter, Jose grabbed the whistle of one of the referees and he acted as if he's one. So there, it started the SO NOT SERIOUS game! Shot clocks were stopped, and the referees just let Jose do the calls. Since Smart White was way behind the score of Meralco Red when Jose arrived, Jose decided to manipulate the game to make his team win. He made really funny calls! Like when Chris Tiu made a 3-point shot, Jose signaled that it's 4, and so the barker reannounced it saying "Chris Tiu FOUR!!!" Jose also gave a lot of free throws to his teammates. Another part of the funny game was when Kiefer passed the ball to the opponent intentionally and took the ball into the basket. That was a cool game! How I wish PBA could be that cool too haha!

FAKE Budoy VS REAL Budoy

 he's really a referee! LOL!

 Kiefer thanking everyone who became a part of the event

two crazies!:)))

Anyway, Smart White won. But the best part of the event was having a lot of people enjoying the game, and having fun together, while at the same time, helping the victims of Typhoon Sendong. I'm so proud that I've been a part of such a good and inspiring enadeavor. Kudos to Kiefer and the whole team who worked on this!:)

living in a typhoon country

So it's been raining non-stop for two weeks already so a lot of streets have been flooded. This is the scene every time there's a typhoon hitting the Philippines.

When I was a child, I loved the rainy season because it means suspension of classes. It's the best news for me because I really hate going to school on a very stormy weather. But when I stepped college, I kinda hated it a bit already because most of the time, college classes were not suspended, and it's really hard to transfer from one building to another inside the campus. And now that I'm in the working group (well right now, I haven't got a new job yet, but I will soon), I hated it even more because it's really not motivating to drag myself to office or somewhere I have to go to. Actually, even if you have a car, it doesn't help that much because heavy rains create heavy traffic.

Oh, and I remember hating living in a typhoon country when I was in Boracay just last summer, wherein half of my month's stay there was filled with heavy rain. I hated walking on wet sand (or should I say, muddy sand? haha) while shopping or going to the party places. Well, I kinda appreciated some light rain and quite strong winds when I was there because it allowed me to swim while riding huge waves, without getting painful sunburn. haha! But believe me, I got sick there during the times that it was sunny at daytime and stormy at night time.

Anyway, I'm posting this because I failed to attend a few appointments today because I wasn't motivated to get out of the house due to heavy rain. Oh, I must say, I appreciate typhoons when they allow me to sleep very well. I love sleeping on rainy days. haha!

Well I don't have plans of going out yet since I find the weather very unstable now, but let's see what the weather's gonna be tomorrow. Look at how a weather report goes:

Source: PAG-ASA (http://www.pagasa.dost.gov.ph/wb/wxfcst.html)

24-HOUR PUBLIC WEATHER FORECAST Note: Please refresh the page to ensure that the information is up-to-date.
Issued At: 5:00 p.m., 06 August 2009 Valid Beginning: 5:00 p.m. today until 5:00 p.m. tomorrow
Predicted Mean Sea Level Pressure Analysis for 8 p.m., 06 August 2009 Predicted Mean Sea Level Wind Analysis for 8 p.m., 06 August 2009 Satellite Image for 10 p.m., 06 August 2009
Synopsis:
At 4:00 p.m. today, Typhoon "KIKO" (MORAKOT) was located based on satellite and surface data at 450 kms Northeast of Basco, Batanes (23.3°N, 125.9°E) with maximum sustained winds of 140 kph near center and gustiness of up to 170 kph. It is forecast to move West at 22 kph. Southwest Monsoon affecting Luzon and Visayas.
Forecast:
Batanes, Babuyan and Calayan group of Islands will experience rains and gusty winds while the rest of Luzon and Western Visayas will experience monsoon rains. The rest of Visayas will have cloudy skies with scattered rainshowers and thunderstorms. The rest of the country will be partly cloudy to cloudy with isolated rainshowers or thunderstorms. Moderate to strong winds blowing from the Southwest will prevail throughout the archipelago with moderate to rough seas.