Discovering Pinas

The Mind Museum, the Philippines’ first world-class science museum, launches its online fundraising campaign through its redesigned website (www.themindmuseum.org) on May 29, 2010 at the Activity Center of Market! Market!, Taguig City. In order for Filipinos to get involved and help build imaginative minds, the Museum is harnessing cyberspace to invite individuals to donate via its first virtual exhibit: “Light a Star at the Mind Museum.”

For P1, 000 or P5, 000, The Mind Museum will light a star or a constellation in its website. Sponsorship could be done online via credit card and eventually through the ATM as well. The goal is to reach 2 million pesos to help light the night sky of The Mind Museum in the form of a Star Cloth in the Universe Gallery. The Museum will show its appreciation to donors by sending an electronic certificate of donation, and by posting on the donors’ FaceBook wall, if they have one. Donors’ names will also appear by their chosen star or constellation in the Museum’s virtual night sky, and they will also be recognized in a donors’ marker in the Universe Gallery.
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Kape Ti Musang and Kape Milo is touted to be the world’s most expensive coffee at P14,000/kilo as compared to P150-300/kilo of usual Philippine Coffees. The coffee beans are “harvested” by wild cats in the rainforests in Benguet and Mindanao and is known by different local names but generally called Kape Ti Musang. Now, coffee aficionados can get a free taste of this popular and sensational coffee at COFFEE ORIGINS, the annual coffee festival of the Philippine Coffee Board. The first 50 visitors of COFFEE ORIGINS at the Greenbelt 5 and Greenbelt 3 malls will get a free taste of this expensive coffee on October 17 and 18. The free coffee is sponsored by CAFEX, roasters of Batangas Harvest, Café Montealto and Continental Coffee and Cordillera Coffee of Frank and Grace Young.

Come to the COFFEE ORIGINS Festival from October 13 to 21 at Greenbelt 3 and October 13-26 at Greenbelt 5, Ayala Center. Many other coffees from small estates in the country will be sampled for free during the two-week event. Log on to www.coffeeboard.com.ph to join Coffee Farm tours and seminars this October, in celebration of Coffee Month.

Show your gratitude to the extraordinary and inspirational people in the Philippines by casting your vote and signing the petition to make House Bill 5466 an National Holiday.

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The Servathon or service marathon is a one-day event when volunteers from corporations and groups dedicate their time and energy to community service and provide assistance to marginalized sectors of Metro Manila. Last year, activities included library development and school refurbishing at Plainview Elementary School and Nueve de Febrero Elementary School. Also included were basketball court repainting at Pangarap Shelter, house building with Habitat for Humanity, kitchen construction at Childhouse and mural painting at the National Children’s Hospital.  Apart from being a day of service, this is also a fundraising event of the foundation for its year-round volunteer programs and projects.

For Servathon 2009, a day of fun and games was attended by Marc Nelson, Nina Huang and other respected people. Here they are with some lucky kids after a race in Velasquez Park.

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The Puerto Princesa Subterranean River slips to number 2 on the New 7 Wonders of Nature (N7WN) poll, prompting the Department of Tourism (DOT) to appeal for support from voters.  The Philippine entry is vying for the top spot, which is currently occupied by the Amazon River, among other 54 nominees under the category of Forests/National Parks/Nature Reserves.

There are currently 261 nominees from all over the globe, competing in 7 different categories, only 77 of which will remain after voting ends in July 7, 2009.  The campaign is at its second of three stages.

Palawan Underground River

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UNICEF along with child rights advocate Gary Valenciano invites everyone to be a Champion for Children. Every day, children are exploited of their rights.Some of these exploited rights are right to education, right to be healthy, right to play, right to self-expression, and right to protection. These children are forced to do hard labor in sugarcane plantations and quarry sites. These children are also deprived of decent home; they live in small tents under hard rain or sun. The daycare centers that provide primary education to these children don’t have enough teaching materials. Something must be done for these children.

Gary Valenciano, a UNICEF National Ambassador for over a decade shares “One thing I’ve learned from my work in UNICEF is that nothing is impossible. I’ve seen former war zones transformed into peaceful, thriving communities. I’ve seen empty classrooms fill up with children, all eager to learn and make their dreams for the future come true, through the help of UNICEF and their partners. We can do so much for these children, who deserve every chance we can give them.”

Gary with the children of UNICEF-funded day care center in Baseco, Tondo, Manila

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