Help Us Help The Elderly

Dear Chaster,

We understand that you have been interacting with our fellow Chasters for a long time now to discuss the love and admiration we have for Charice; however, we also understand that most of these interactions occur online. In our desire to bond more and fully share a Chaster’s love and warmth, some of us would reach out and decide to finally meet up with fellow Chasters in real life. Those meet-ups / gatherings usually happen before, during and after Charice’s gigs. And if schedules permit, Chasters organize a meet-up where we can party and have fun.

Recently, a lot of Chasters have been saying that our gatherings should not be just about partying and having fun. Instead, we can channel our energies and enthusiasm to more productive and community-conscious endeavors. And so it was suggested that we undertake a charity project. We call it the “Chasters’ Voice of Love” – because Charice’s deep and powerful voice binds us as Chasters and moves us to share our love.

On Sunday, 31 July 2011, we will be visiting the Golden Acres Home for the Aged to spend time with their elderly residents and hand over our donations in the hopes that we will be able to bring a smile to the faces of our lonely and abandoned elderly. In one of our communications with the Golden Acres staff, it was mentioned that they currently have more than a hundred residents. We hope to be able to spend time with all of them and would like to invite you to join us on that day.

How You Can Help:

• Be At The Event – Join us on Sunday, 31 July 2011 1:00-5:00 PM at Golden Acres Home for the Aged in Misamis St. Bago Bantay, Quezon City (Location Map) and help in:

1.     Entertaining the elderly.

2.     Preparing for the program.

3.     Distributing food to the elderly and volunteers .

4.     Clean-up.

• Donate – If you wish to send in / bring your donations, we recommend the following:

1.     Refer to the Wish List provided by Golden Acres.

2.     For cash donations, please coordinate with the Donation Committee members.

3.     You may also donate food / snacks for volunteers.

• Promote – You may provide the following to the appropriate committees:

1.     Your suggestions / ideas on how we can spread the word to the rest of the Chasters (Promotion / Communication / Documentation Committees). Your ideas will be posted/linked on the blog we have set up for this project.

2.     Your feedback on the conversations you’ll have with the elderly (Documentation Committee). We will collate your thoughts, learnings, recommendations and/or reactions to the experience you’ll have with the elderly in order to submit a comprehensive report / analysis to the Golden Acres, the organizers and to any Chaster who wish to be updated. Your insights will be a great help in gauging the success of our project and in pushing us to do more.

For your reference, we have listed below the blog sites where we will be giving you updates on and the different committee members and their respective emails:

Blogs:

• Chasters United
• For Quality Purposes,...

Committees:

• Communication: 
• ab.bonita - eybhiebonita@gmail.com
• beda026 - beda026@gmail.com
• kenji - kenji_jetrhow@yahoo.com
• Facilities & Physical Arrangement:
• Divina - dcolumbano@yahoo.com
• Carol - carol23_82@yahoo.com
• Registration:
• Leah - larubin23@yahoo.com
• Chastin - aluv_dolphins@yahoo.com
• Documentations: 
• Gemma - gemma_accounting@yahoo.com
• Ate Pin
• Tita Glo - ladygloveritas@yahoo.com
• Program:
• Carl10
• Tintol
• Promotion:
• Tita Glo - ladygloveritas@yahoo.com
• Food:
• Mena S. Calderon
• Donation:
• Divina - dcolumbano@yahoo.com
• Carol - carol23_82@yahoo.com
• Write-Ups:
• urdujalinea - urdujalinea@yahoo.com
• ab.bonita - eybhiebonita@gmail.com
• Video & Camera:
• Gemma - gemma_accounting@yahoo.com
• Ate Pin

Please don’t hesitate to contact any of us if you have any queries. We’ll be happy to help.

We hope to hear from you soon and look forward to your support.

Coming Out

So my sister and I have been fans of Charice for quite a while now and consider ourselves as Chasters but we've never attended any Chaster gathering or met up with any of them during Charice's concerts / appearances. 


Because we've met a lot of people who uncontrollably expresses their dislike for Charice, we've become experts in controlling our facial expressions, our hands, our words, and our emotions in order to come out as the better person in every encounter. 


What we weren't equipped for, is meeting someone with uncontrollable love for her. So we made sure we steered clear of that sort of person. And since there were two of us updating each other and feeding on our Chasterdom, the need to connect with another Chaster was not of immediate necessity.


Then came this charity project we believe in (Chasters' Voice of Love). Well, of course, in order to join and be a volunteer, it only makes sense that we show up, right? Yes, we could have just sent in cash donations electronically but some sadistic Chaster (I'm looking at you beda026) specifically included in the write-up that it is not encouraged to do so. And we were also invited to attend the final meeting of the project's committee members.


So my sister and I went out to meet up with them (1) to express and display our interest, support and commitment in said project and (2) to finally come out and meet Chasters in real life. For reason #1, we exchanged ideas, assigned tasks, and over all had a very productive day. As for the second reason, it wasn't what we've been dreading - meeting them felt natural, as if we were just waiting to meet, as if we've been friends for a long time.


And so the story of our self-imposed Chaster-seclusion ends. Unfortunately, not in a happily-ever-after fashion. Haha! Because now we've got tasks to complete which we haven't even started on yet. Manager better cut us some slack (notice the blog post time below). Those tasks require brain usage after all.


Hah! And now I had to go on plurk and sign up. The things I learn as a Chaster. My karma better go up. =P

Chasters' Voice of Love Project

We live in a world where everything and everyone is interconnected. By love. What we do, or what we do not do, affects all things and all beings. And if we know that we can make a difference, however small that difference is, shouldn't we do it? Especially if making that difference only entails a small portion of our resources?


The Chasters believe in making a difference. And so this month, we have decided to pool in our resources in order to bring a smile to those who have come before us, to those whose only companions are their memories - some of them no longer even have the luxury of remembering - our elderly.


For most of us younger Chasters, we fear the thought of being old and lonely. Some of us do not even entertain the thought. But for the hundreds of people residing at Golden Acres Home for the Aged, being old and lonely is their reality. 


It is not uncommon for them to go for an entire month without speaking to family - or to anyone for that matter. On the other hand, we are able to interact with our loved ones on a daily basis that we sometimes take it for granted. We have been blessed to listen to the voice that unites us. The only voice they hear is their own. 

I have learned that there is no substitute for human warmth. Something as simple as listening to an older person's fond memories or just by sitting with them for a moment can have a lasting effect. We hope that this project will ensure that our elderly will no longer feel abandoned by society. 


We are appealing to all the Chasters out there to join us in our "Chasters' Voice of Love" project on 31 July 2011 at Golden Acres Home for the Aged. Your support is greatly appreciated. 


For details on how you can help, please contact:
ab.bonita - eybhiebonita@gmail.com
beda026 - beda026@gmail.com
kenji - kenji_jetrhow@yahoo.com


Please visit Chasters United's blog for full details of this project.

Satisfaction Rating

After three months of unemployment, I still haven't received my Final Pay. 


One of the reasons was that I just couldn't be bothered to chase after it. Translation: I still got some moolah so I'm not too bothered. 


Another reason, which got me in a snit, is my previous employer's payroll department. Attached with the Exit Clearance Form I completed was the note stating that my Final Pay will be released within thirty days of submitting the completed Exit Clearance Form. However, the lady who received the form gave me an inch-wide strip of paper with a name and phone number of a person. When asked what the purpose of the paper-strip was, she kindly advised me to contact that person after thirty days to follow up on when I can get my hard-earned money and clearance papers. 


Thirty days later, I called that land-line number like the good little girl that I don't pretend to be. Yes, it rang. And rang. And rang. I stayed on the line. For ten minutes. It still rang. I must point out that I'm using my mobile phone. And because I believe in not passing judgment on just one encounter, I gave it another shot. Refer to the first eight sentences of this paragraph (yes, I counted 'em). You get the picture.


So I went online and fired off an email to their department. Then called again. I was able to get through this time. The lady did not even provide me with her name and placed me on hold for three minutes. She then came back and told me that, since "the process" (she stressed these words as if they are very important and that only the elite are allowed to utter them) takes thirty days, she will have my request "expedited" (same stress as "the process"). Oh, and that I need to call back the next day to check when I can finally claim the money that is rightfully mine. I had to ask the lady what was taking up so long. She replied that it needs to be "computed". I have no idea what they were doing for the past thirty days if they are just getting on the computing stage. Or maybe it takes more than thirty days for them to compute. I don't know. I don't know.


The next day, I received an email response from them. I was advised that I have to wait for five working days for my request to be addressed. And that they have found that I have a social security loan balance so this will need to be deducted as well. I was also asked to furnish them with a contact number. So I did. 


And of course, since I was also asked by the lady who cannot be named to call her back on that day, I did. She told me not call back since my request is already being "processed" and that she will contact me instead. When I provided her with a mobile phone number and advised that I will be coming from Bulacan, she very kindly advised that calling a mobile phone number is costly so she prefers it if I can provide a land-line number instead. I'm sure I'm aware how costly it is - I've been calling them through my mobile phone, have I not? Oh, and before the call ended, that's when she finally deigned to get my name and phone number. The lady is clairvoyant.


This is one of the times when all the fond memories I have about the company I worked with, when all the friendships I've formed while there and when all other positive stuff about it gets overshadowed by an experience. 


I felt as if I was a customer contacting a call center expecting to have her questions answered but instead was lied to, interrupted, insulted, made to feel as if I was not worthy of the agent's time and handed off to another department. 


Now I understand why some customers no longer ask to speak to a manager. Because they no longer trust that their concerns will be addressed. Because they are no longer interested in doing business with that business.