Help “Share the Happy” with street children this Christmas

Help “Share the Happy” with street children this Christmas

The Christmas season magnifies what has long been established in Filipino culture: that for the Filipino, happiness means being with the people that mean most to them.

In cooperation with the Virlanie Foundation, an organization dedicated to uplifting the lives of street children by giving them a sense of family, support and love, Enervon is launching “Share the Happy”, a new advocacy campaign for the benefit of hundreds of neglected but deserving youth.

Through “Share the Happy”, Enervon provides Filipinos an opportunity to make a contribution in enriching the lives of street children this Christmas.

As part of this campaign, Enervon is unveiling a partially lighted interactive billboard along EDSA.  The public is encouraged to help light up the billboard and pledge their support for the cause by texting “Refill” to 2948.  Each text message is a sign of support which translates to an additional light on billboard.

When it is fully lighted, a donation will be formally made by Enervon to the Virlanie Foundation on behalf of all who supported the cause.

As Jalene Tiu, Enervon Product Manager, said “Christmas is all about sharing.  No one knows this more than the people who have tirelessly helped out in the foundation.”

“We admire the volunteers who find time out of their busy schedules to teach and play with the children.  These people go through their daily routine and still find the energy to play an active role in the foundation,” she added.

At Enervon, Tiu said, “our main goals for this campaign is to give the public an opportunity to ‘Share the Happy’ this Christmas to more than 300 street children under the 12 residential homes of Virlanie and more than 800 children through its outreach programs.”

She added, “Through this initiative, we want to make these children feel that we care.  In our own way and with the help of the public, we know we can make a difference.” The Virlanie Foundation is committed to helping improve the lives of street children through the provision of food and clothes, a family home, and opportunities to study.
Many of the children in the foundation share the same story: born into hardship and poverty, they do not stand a fair chance of reaching their full potential.

Oftentimes, they are driven to work in the formal sector and forego dreaming of a better future so that they can get by their needs for the day.

The Virlanie foundation has been advocating the cause of Filipino street children since 1992.  The founder and president, Dominique Lemay, has long since recognized the importance of having a normal upbringing and has designed their organizational structure and programs to respond to the needs of the children.

The children live in homes where the prevailing atmosphere is that of a family.  It has a father, mother and aunts who care for and provide formation to the children.

When necessary, Virlanie assists in the social reintegration of the children into communities through livelihood training programs and whenever possible, reunite them with their families.

Although thousands have already benefited from its efforts, the resources of the non-profit, non-government organization are still very limited to this day.

Virlanie is one of the largest child-caring organizations in the country.  In the last 17 years, it has cared for more than 11,000 street children.  (PNA)