We Filipinos are so used to seeing poor destitute children begging for money in the streets that it has become automatic for us to simply ignore them. A kid knocks on your window and we automatically think “sindikato yan”, justifying our reason for turning a blind eye. We have to reopen our eyes and feel shocked — why the hell are these kids on the streets and not in schools? This is where our taxes should go!

Inevitably, we start to feel helpless. “How can I make a difference?”, you ask yourself. The answer: DO ANYTHING. If you do one little thing, that’s still more than what most people have done for these children.

Shepherd of the Hills Children’s Foundation is a foundation that helps underprivileged, abandoned, neglected, or orphaned children and youth in the Philippines. They are already doing something and all we have to do is help. Unfortunately, the home is in danger of closing. Who will keep it open? Each one of us.

Sharon Ordinario, a friend of ManilaMommy, is raising funds to keep the home open. You can leave a comment here and we could get you in touch with her.

Also, Maan Ballesteros is selling cookies for the cause. Chocolate or Oatmeal Raisin Cookies at P100 / 10 pcs and Bittersweet Brownies at P120 / 6 squares. You can order by sending her a message thru twitter: http://twitter.com/madballs. That’s actually how we got to know about the charity! You guessed it, the food!

Now I’m not just preachy preachy, this is also a food review! And I’m very happy to report that I LOVED both the cookies and the brownies!

The cookies were very well made and were delightfully chewy and crunchy at the same time. They didn’t just blend the oatmeal into a chewy pulp like most cookies – they included whole bits of oatmeal that added a new crunchy texture that was just delicious. I couldn’t get enough of it (but my wife told me to go on a diet so…).

So I moved on to the Bittersweet Brownies! Taste-wise it was a real treat because it was different from the normal sweet brownies sold everywhere — being bittersweet was a great twist. Texture-wise, the brownie was moist enough to still feel rich in your mouth when you bite into it, but not too moist to taste underbaked. You could see that this was really a labor of love for Maan.

I highly recommend that you buy these. Not a bad deal — great cookies and brownies for a great cause!

Details:
If you’d like to help in another way, you can visit their website at http://www.shepherdofthehills.org.ph/index.asp to find out how. You can make a donation from the Philippines (of course), USA, and UK!