|
Christmas Package Drive, Late 40's to the 50's |
|
|
When we were in school, the ACIL added a little more excitement to the holiday season by launching a Christmas Package Drive for the poor. (ACIL is the acronym for Ateneo Catechetical Instruction League, an organization composed of students who teach catechism to children in poor communities or non-Catholic schools.) We got a huge dose of adrenalin from the contest that grew out of the drive - a contest among classes. Watching one's class pull ahead one day and then fall behind the next got us all fired up.
The contest saw us collect old clothes from a closet at home or relieve the cupboard of some canned goods (while mom wasn't looking). We also sallied forth into the streets soliciting donations and naturally chose to try our luck downtown, which, during our time, was the Escolta and its environs.
Escolta, then Manila's version of Fifth Avenue or Rodeo Drive, was the place to be for the elite department stores of our generation. Berg's, Yatco, Alonzo, SyYap and Walkover come to mind. Lawyers, accountants and various other businessmen had offices in the Regina and Samanillo Buildings. Prominent banks and insurance companies were on the strip. The classy Capitol and Lyric Theaters, not in our sights as possible donors, also stood on the Escolta. So did Botica Boie, the premier pharmaceutical company of our time. Hungry? - one of the places to have a bite to eat was Savoy. If one walked northward along the alley on the east side of Berg's, he'd soon be standing on Dasmarinas St. where he'd find Heacock's and some hardware stores, notably Go Soc.
Dasmarinas St., Rosario, Juan Luna, Sta. Cruz and Avenida Rizal made up Escolta's environs and one could throw in Carriedo and Echague Sts.
In one of his "sorties", classmate Rudy Castillo had an interesting encounter with one of his prospective donors. The person, after learning that the boy in front of him was from Ateneo, claimed allegiance to a rival school and promptly gave Rudy the brushoff.
There inevitably was drama on the last day of the drive. Like a basketball flung from way beyond midcourt at the final buzzer, a last-minute donation either dashed the hopes of the class hanging on to the lead or brought cheers from the class that overhauled it.- RJ
|
