Senate spouses play Santa
CHRISTMAS came early to 60 children from the Tahanang Mapagpala Center and the Social Development Center in Caloocan City when members of the Senate Spouses Foundation, Inc. (SSFI) played Santa in Christmas in November, the group’s annual gift-giving event at SM Store Megamall.
A joint project of the Senate Spouses Foundation, Inc. and SM, the event — which began with lunch at Wendy’s — was a day of fun for the kids many of whom experienced the joys of shopping for the first time after more than two years of the Covid-19 pandemic. No less than the spouses and their representatives took them around the SM Store to shop for clothes, school supplies, toiletries, toys and more.
Senate Spouses Foundation President Audrey Zubiri led her members who played moms and dad for a day. These included Nancy de la Rosa, Teodoro “Neil” Llamanzares, Precy Ejercito, Gladys Cruz-Villanueva, Kathryna Pimentel, and lawyer Emmeline Villar, as well as Maricel Tulfo-Tungol, daughter of Senator Raffy Tulfo, who took the kids around the store for fun-filled shopping spree during the yearly Christmas outreach program.
They were warmly welcomed and assisted by SM’s Millie Dizon and SM Store Megamall staff led by Vice President for Operations Maribel Sibayan and SM Megamall AVP for Operations Ian Mathay.
The “Christmas in November” project of Senate Spouses Foundation, Inc. and SM started way back in 1998 by Eloisa NolascoFernan, wife of then-Senate President Marcelo Briones Fernan.
“We are thankful to SM for the many years of helping us bring joy to these children,” said Zubiri.
The Tahanang Mapagpala Center and the Social Development Center are shelters for the abandoned, foundlings and orphans of Caloocan City.