Blowout ‘to ni Chiara (ADZU’s Pan Cada Dia)
Sonny Cortez
In July, for her birthday, the wife (Bong) enrolled in ADZU’s Birthday Club (officially the ADZU Birthday Scholarship Fund) where one commits one peso a day until one’s next birthday. The birthday money is pooled together for scholarships. She made one step further to commemorate her birthday by contributing a day’s worth of meals to the Pan Cada Dia, ADZU’s feeding program for its scholars who otherwise might not have lunch money. (She had wished -but it was not possible then – to have her donation used for the July 5 lunch.)
We wanted to make the Birthday Club and Pan Cada Dia a family birthday tradition. I can’t remember why we failed to do it for Iggy’s July 22 birthday. I do know we skipped on my birthday as Zamboanga was still under siege and everyone here had bigger things on their minds.
With James Robert Falcasantos’s encouragement and company, we picked up what Bong started in July for our daughter Chiara’s birthday on December 2. We enrolled her in the Birthday Club and gave a day’s worth of meals for the scholars as Chiara’s birthday blowout. Being thousands of miles apart, we felt these gestures of kindness towards others somewhat brought us together with our firstborn on her birthday. She was, after all, an enthusiastic volunteer in her University’s Outreach Program, handing out warm blankets, hot coffee, and conversation to the homeless scattered along University Avenue in Palo Alto. She would have appreciated the Blowout.
Bong and James Robert (an incumbent Alumni Association Trustee) have since been informally exchanging ideas on how to make the Pan Cada Dia a more personal experience for the donor. Bong wanted the donation to be a shared celebration with the scholars – be it for a birthday, an anniversary, the birth of a child, a promotion, passing the Board/Bar, etc. In short, a Blowout… a way of sharing one’s blessings with one’s fellow Ateneans, who are facing economic challenges on their way to getting the prized Jesuit education.
I thought Alumni Year Batches may want to sponsor a day’s meal or more to celebrate their Jubilee Year. There are currently 63 scholars in the feeding program. The school canteen provides a complete lunch for Pesos 35 per head. A day’s meal for all 63 scholars costs Pesos 2100. In USD terms, the cost of one day’s blowout is less than 50 dollars!
When we visited the Admissions Office (where these programs are administered), we had a chance to briefly brainstorm with the Director of Admissions & Aid, Emir Espano, who was receptive to our suggestions. My wife Bong, a programs technical pro in her previous life, pointed out that the emotive factor in making the Pan Cada Dia sponsorship personal for the donor is a big factor in getting more and repeat donations. Nobody tires of celebrations, and considering the Zamboanguenos’ inherent generosity to share Life’s Bounty with friends and kin, the feeding program can turn to be one continuous daily Blowout!
Magari! Sana nga!
