After the much felt presence of typhoons "Winnie" and "Yoyong" in November of 2004, P&A for a Cause (P&AUSE) formed Taskforce SUNRISE to help our less fortunate brothers and sisters mostly affected.

Taskforce Chair Ice Ayson, along with Deputy Chair Shirley Go led the firmwide collection of cash, old clothes, and other necessities, in addition to the staff's monthly contribution to P&AUSE. All donations were coursed through the Philippine National Red Cross.

Taskforce members included Audit's Melay Lawas, Don Llarena, and Cybele Tomas; BRS' Dang Satinago and Anna Biton, CorFin's Jhoanna Buganan, Accounting's Roger Noveda, and HR's Angelo Arboleda.

Taskforce SUNRISE would like to extend it's warmest gratitude to all those who have contributed to the sucess of the project.

Around 30 P&A staff, alumni and friends volunteered for an early Christmas project of P&A for a Cause (P&AUSE) bringing 30 privileged kids to an alternative learning experience last November 27, Saturday.

In cooperation with the Children’s Hour, children from Childhope Asia Philippines and from Families and Children for Empowerment Development Foundation (FCED) were accompanied by the P&Aers for a whole day of thrills. Jun Cuaresma graced the activity, together with Rhea Alarcon, Assistant Executive Director of Children’s Hour.

The morning activity featured the Museo Pambata along Roxas Boulevard, where the kids frolicked from one museum room to another, testing their wits, knowledge, athleticism, and of course, their maximum level of fun in the different activities the museum had to offer. By noon, we settled at McDonald’s Harrison Plaza for heavy lunch and party games.

Later in the afternoon, we trooped to the revitalized Manila Zoo, where we enjoyed a glimpse of the different animals and the zoo’s new attractions. We even took time to invade the zoo’s lagoon and raced against each other in paddling boats. As the day turned to a close, the children were given goodie bags and giveaways to remember us P&Aers by.

Although the day was thoroughly exhausting, we were satisfied just by seeing the kids smiling the whole day, wishing that this first-time experience for them would repeat itself in the future.

With the success of last year’s P&A for a Cause (P&AUSE) participation in Habitat for Humanity’s (Habitat) housing project in Las Piñas, P&AUSE once again lends a helping hand for Habitat’s current housing project in Barangay BASECO, Tondo, Manila, last October 22. The activity was undertaken in cooperation with the Makati Business Club, Manila City Hall, the National Housing Authority and the National Anti-Poverty Commission. Twenty-one P&AUSE volunteers, led by Ice Ayson, trooped to Barangay BASECO to help in the construction of homes for beneficiary families located in the area.

P&Aers gamely and bravely rolled up their sleeves and traded their calculators for shovels. Attendees prepared a selected site for the actual construction of the house by digging and shoveling earth and clay (among other things) from the site, a painstaking process that consumed much of the day. Despite the hot and dry weather, P&Aers hauled the dug-up soil from the construction site to make way for the foundation of septic tanks and comfort rooms (making us flex muscles that have been made lax by too much stationary work).

P&Aers became construction hardhats for the day and experienced first-hand the meager living conditions of the people at the BASECO area. Think of living in an area without proper sanitation and properly cemented roads and with congested streets teeming with malnourished children. The experience made us realize how privileged we are to live the life that we are currently enjoying. More importantly, we realized that rather than merely being thankful for our good fortune, we can and should exert some effort in making other people's lives easier to bear.

The experience was quite a workout for us, but it was all worth it: we received heartfelt and enthusiastic thanks from the BASECO residents, who are now one day closer to fulfilling their dream of having secure homes for their families.