"Yours is a unique community service." – Darwin Flores, Smt Public Affairs Manager.
Last December 25 marks the 46th year we served Christmas breakfast for the Tarlac Provincial Jail inmates. The penitentiary is located in Brgy. Baras-Baras, Tarlac City. Come to think of it, the Soliman family's annual routine is leaning towards the extraordinary. While most extend their arms to the underprivileged youth, our family opts for delinquent adults. You might say, they committed a crime so why feed them. Well, its a choice... an underprivileged is an underprivileged no matter what angle you look at it. They made a mistake, graver than most individuals, so let's cut them some slack and pamper them at least once a year. Christmas IS a time for giving.
The day starts with the breakfast preparation. This year, the menu was torta, 3 pandesals, an egg and hot coffee. Compared to the P40.00 daily meal budget for the bakasyonistas, the meal served was relatively a feast. This is then followed by a program with majority of the time spent on parlor games. The games hep-hep, trip to jerusalem and paper dance are permanent fixtures. Since Y2002, this blogger has been providing free calls worth P2,000.00 and that’s equivalent to 60 - 80 calls. Teamwork among the family is at play at least during the activity. There's a group that handles food preparation, free calls, games, emcee and prize custodian.
The program usually caps around 12nn. Then its see-you-again-next-year for most of us. The Baras-Baras community service unifies the family at least during this special day. Indeed, Christmas is a time for giving (and forgiving).
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