|
Advertisement
 |
|
Heart-y parties
By Czarina Ledesma
Inquirer
Last updated 05:20pm (Mla time) 10/09/2007
MANILA, Philippines—As a young child I loved taking care of my younger cousins. This has carried on to this day. Thus, when we were approached by the Parenting Foundation in 2000, it was like manna from heaven.
The Parenting Foundation is a non-government organization that provides foster care for abandoned and surrendered children awaiting adoption. For this critical period, it’s been proven that family care is superior to orphanages in every aspect.
So for the last seven years, we have opened our home to eleven children who have each spent anywhere between four months and two years with my family. Not only has it been a time filled with infinite joy for us, it has also helped me discover my true purpose in life.
I was trained as a hotelier, having taken up Hotel and Restaurant Institution Management at the College of Saint Benilde. After graduation, I lived in Amanpulo where I worked in the Guest Services department. Living on this remote and beautiful Palawan Island, surrounded by people delivering such first-rate services, I realized how I could merge my two passions in life—helping children and organizing events—into one dream job. My company, Fete, is a product of this vision.
Fete is the French word for festival. It is also the name of an events styling company that I started with one of my best friends, Ferdi Salvador. “Festival, feast, flair, fun”—these are all the words that can describe my company and the realization of my dream.
We are called Fete: Event Architects. Like the nodes of the bamboo, parties are the nodes or highlights in one’s life. I believe these parties have to stand out not just in one’s memory but in all the guests’ memories as well. We are architects and not stylists, because we want to build on our concepts and designs that the market has never seen before, using non-conformity as our standard.
Through the efforts of Fete, not only do those who attend the gatherings we organize take something home with them, the foster children of the Parenting Foundation benefit as well. The “guardian angels” from Parenting Foundation are the driving force behind Fete, since the foundation receives all net proceeds as its major source of income.
Fete has been able to arrange “affairs to remember” at several distinctive locations. For close friends and family, my parents have even allowed me to use my home at 32 McKinley Road in Forbes Park, free of charge, as long as Parenting Foundation can benefit from it. For them, it could only mean that another child is finding a home, and I am truly grateful to my family for supporting me in this way.
My ultimate goal is to put up a giant home where we can take care of many more kids. Thanks to Fete, we are making this a reality for one child at a time.
E-mail feteeventarchitects@yahoo.com
|