GUEST POST: Meaningful Christmas gift suggestions

By: Harvey S. Keh* It’s just a month away from Christmas and I'm sure that many of us are now starting our Christmas shopping for our love ones. As such, I would like to ask you to consider giving any of the following gifts this Christmas because as you buy these gifts you also help provide a better future for our country. Here are my suggested gifts: a.) Acts of Hope for the Nation (AHON Foundation) Christmas Cards - Did you know that millions of Filipino students reach Grade 6 without even learning how to read? AHON Foundation helps solve that problem by building functional and well-equipped libraries for our public elementary schools. To date, AHON has already helped build 20 public elementary schools in Quezon City, Marikina, Pampanga, Nueva Ecija, Pangasinan and Bulacan. Each Christmas Card costs P100, P300 and P500 each. For every Christmas card that you buy, a donation will be made under the name of the person you give the card to! If you would like to see the Cards, you can visit this link:  http://ahonfoundation.multiply.com/journal/item/26 or you can contact Anna Rojas at rojas_anna225@yahoo.com . b.) Ashoka-Youth Venture Philippines Memo Holders and T-Shirts - Ashoka-Youth Venture helps train and develop young people to become positive changemakers in society by helping them develop projects that will solve problems in their community. Some of these projects include tutorial programs for non-readers in their community or organizing preventive health seminars for depressed communities. By helping young people become positive changemakers, Ashoka hopes to create a new generation of Filipinos that will serve as catalysts for change in our society. Each Ashoka-Youth Venture Memo Pad costs only between P100 to P 150 per piece while an Ashoka T-shirt costs only P 170.00 each. If you would like to see the memo holders and the T-Shirt, you can visit: http://filipinochangemaker.blogspot.com or you can contact Katrina Wy at kwy@ashoka.org . c.) Pathways to Higher Education Organic Products - six years ago, Archie Dolit was graduating at the top of his class in Marikina High School unsure of what the future would hold for him since his parents was only earning less than P250 per day. Through the help of Pathways, Archie not only entered college but also received a full scholarship from Ateneo de Manila University. Last March, Archie graduated with a BS degree in Electronics and Communications Engineering (ECE) and is now working at a multi-national company, enabling him to help send other siblings to school. Pathways has helped hundreds of other academically-gifted but financially disadvantaged students like Archie access quality higher education. Pathways wants to help more young Filipinos reach their dreams and you can make that happen by giving Pathways Organic Products this Christmas. These products range from P150 to P250. You can check them out at www.pathwaysphilippines.org or you can contact Pathways at (02) 426-6001 local 4048. d.) Kaya Natin! Baller Bands - One of the major problems our country faces today is the lack of transparency and accountability in our government and this is primarily because good governance and ethical leadership remains only a far off dream for us. Yet, we have seen that in many local government units, good governance is possible and that is what Kaya Natin! espouses. Kaya Natin! is a national movement for good governance and ethical leadership that aims to help support and elect effective and ethical government leaders in our country. Among those who initially convened Kaya Natin! are Ramon Magsaysay Awardees Mayor Jesse Robredo of Naga City and Gov. Grace Padaca of Isabela, Gov. Ed Panlilio of Pampanga, Mayor Sonia Lorenzo of San Isidro, Nueva Ecija and Gov. Teddy Baguilat, Jr. of Ifugao. Each baller band costs only P50 and you can help promote the fight for good governance and ethical leadership in our country. If you want to see the baller bands, you can visit http://filipinochangemaker.blogspot.com or you can contact Kai Pastores at kayanatin@yahoo.com . Please feel free to share this with your family and friends. Let us continue to hope, pray and work together for a better Philippines! *Harvey is Director for Youth Leadership and Social Entrepreneurship at the Ateneo de Manila University-School of Government. Beyond Bottomlines III: An Introduction to Social Entrepreneurship Seminar will be held on December 13 at the Ateneo Professional Schools. For more details, please contact Katrina Wy at 497-7614.