So the plan is to treat our Acts29 Family (the scholars, their families, and Acts29 staff) to a Jollibee lunch one Saturday and Sherlyn K of Acts29 was suggesting that we hold the event at some venue in Erap City as their place in Payatas would be too small to accommodate all the guests.

Jollibee is a popular American-style fast-food restaurant with Filipino-influenced dishes based in the Philippines.   Kids love Jollibee so it’s perfect for our September event! 

(Photo of Jollibee mascot grabbed from Modsters Ink site http://modstersink.wordpress.com)

Erap City is in Montalban, Rizal Philippines.  It’s a resettlement site for Manila slum dwellers and it was opened during the time of then-President Erap Estrada, hence the name.

(Photos grabbed from PCIJ site http://pcij.org)

Here’s what we have in mind so far (thanks, Sherlyn K for helping us put this together!):

1. Jumble Sale of Used Clothes – Will have this in Payatas on a separate day.
2. Jollibee Lunch with our Acts29 Family – Will hold in Erap City and Acts29 staff in Manila will help scout for a venue.  We’re lucky there’s one Jollibee outlet some 10 minutes away from Erap City!
3. Mass Celebration Before Lunch – Will tap some friends if we can get hold of a priest to celebrate mass in Erap City.  If not, we can just do a short prayer.
4. Sheltered Venue & Security – Acts29 Manila staff to scout so we won’t have to worry in case it starts to pour.  We don’t want our kids and their families getting unwell due to this!  Shelyn K is checking for some help for security from the barangay during the event.
5. Transport for the Payatas families and staff to get to Erap City – We will rent some jeepneys to take our families to the venue.
6. Names of all our Acts29 Family Members – Sherlyn K to share a list by end of June when Acts29 Manila staff are not too busy preparing our scholars for their June classes.  Plan is each will have a name tag; easier for everybody to get along, first-name basis.
7. Buddy System – We’re checking the number of volunteer friends who can commit to this event – plan is to have one volunteer assigned to one Acts29 family (1:1 or 1:2 depending on the number) so we are sure each and everyone is well taken care off.
8. School Supplies for our Acts29 Scholars –  Sherlyn K to share a list of our Acts29 scholars and what level they are in to check what school supplies they need.
9. Band to Entertain our Acts29 Family – Will do a mini-concert during the event.  Hope to reunite with my bandmates; it’s been a while since we all got together!  Will talk about this in a separate post.