orange juice for a cause


During the Habagat floods of 2012 here, I remember thinking it was the perfect opportunity to expose Noah to the idea of making a difference in our community. My FB news feed was flooded with photos of my friends' kids volunteering to pack relief goods for the flood victims including this instagram of Sophia, daughter of Camille of camillekingphotography.com.


I would have wanted to let Noah volunteer too. Problem is, we were stuck at home with a flooded street.

Sadly, I totally forgot about my intention of teaching Noah about community service until I came across Tang's new advocacy campaign Handa, Inom, Gawa! [Ready, Drink, Act!] a few weeks ago. Tang's mission is to inspire and empower kids to take responsibility and create real, positive change in the community. 

Tang featured many kid heroes who've made a difference -- from International Children's Peace Prize Awardee Kesz Valdez who founded Caring Children, a group that gives out slippers, books and hygiene kits to street children, to Harvey Gana who organized a fun run to raise funds for the expensive medication of kids with cancer, and to Pablo Gamboa who wrote and published books to raise awareness for hunger and environmental concerns.


Other kids sold home-baked goodies, bracelets and bookmarks to raise funds for rainforest rehabilitation and for charities like Cancer Warrior Foundation. Children did all these... Imagine that!

At the Tang launch, Joy Abaquin, a multi-awarded educator and founding directress of Multiple Intelligence International School, talked about the 3 E's that parents should arm children with: Exposure beyond his little world so he becomes aware of the less fortunate's very different world, Empathy to feel what it would be like to live in their world, and Empowerment to help him do something about it.


Turns out, even before this advocacy was launched, Tang orange drink has been empowering children in its own little way (okay, marketing friends, this is where the link to brand comes in). The powdered drink is so easy to prepare that moms have allowed kids to prepare their own Tang drink by themselves. Without meaning to, Tang has become a tool to teach kids a "can-do" attitude. So this is why they want to expand Tang's ability to empower children. This time, empowering them to make a difference in the world.

So I am heeding Tang's and Teacher Joy's call to empower Noah. Summer vacation is just around the corner (are you swamped with quarterly exam reviews too?). It's the perfect time to channel Noah's energies toward something meaningful... So I'm thinking of encouraging him to raise funds via an orange juice stand. Just imagine the pipe cleaners spelling ORANGE instead of LEMONADE...


And because Tang orange drink is so easy to prepare, Noah need not slave over juicing an actual orange.


He might need to bark out (like the taho-man) though to announce his wares to the neighborhood.


I have yet to expose Noah beyond his little world to decide what he would like to raise funds for. I am curious to find out which charity or cause he will empathize with the most.

Ooohh, I am so looking forward to a fun but also meaningful summer! 

Empower your own child and share your kid-hero stories on Tang's online site and facebook page.

Handa, Inom, Gawa!

Photos are from nyctaughtme, camillekingphotography and courtesy of Tang.

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