Cebuana shares blessings on her birthday

The celebrant hands a food pack to a person on the street. | Contributed photo.

CEBU CITY, Philippines— The internet has been flooded with different memes every day, and one of the most laughed at memes at the moment is the ones where sad photos come along with the caption, “birthday celebrants on April.”

With the current coronavirus disease crisis faced by the world, April celebrators are not able to celebrate their birthdays the way they used to as social gatherings are not allowed to minimize the chances of spreading the deadly disease.

So a Cebuana decided to still celebrate her birthday on April 13, but this time by giving food packs to the homeless while the city is under the state of  enhanced community quarantine.

Audrey Bacalla, 39, a waitress on an international cruise ship, is on vacation in Cebu when the pandemic happened.

Bacalla shared with CDN Digital that she was supposed to celebrate her birthday with friends and family since she was home. But the Covid-19 changed that plan.

Despite that, she still wanted to spend it in a way she would always remember.

“I thought of the major problem that most of the less fortunate people would think is food. Later I realized that I would rather provide them with food even for today just to fulfill their stomach for those less fortunate people in the street. I know that they would really appreciate this little help and could also add a smile on their faces,” said Bacalla.

Social distancing

Bacalla prepared at least 150 food packs for the people they see on the sidewalks. She also gave  to some frontliners who were working, such as security guards.

“My cousin and I  maintained social distancing when we were giving them the food packs, we also have our ECQ passes with us the entire time,” she said.

Bacalla felt emotional seeing the situation some of the Cebunaos are facing on the streets amid this crisis but was still very happy that she was able to help them out on her birthday.

The food packs Bacalla prepared to be given to the homeless on her birthday. | Contributed photo.

“I feel so relieved that somehow in a small way I could be able to help with these people. I know that all of it was really a big deal for them already that people would always be there to help them in many ways,’ she said. /bmjo