Aside from Adarna House, Ascott also invited Best Buddies PH, a nonprofit organization that is dedicated to improving the quality of life for people with intellectual developmental disabilities(IDD).

Once everyone was there, the staff cut a long green ribbon and officially welcomed us into the Adarna-themed room!

The room was very cozy, with pillows on the rug and a decorated table with custom plates. However, the feature that caught our eye was the reading nook, complete with a small green sofa, curtains, and, of course, a shelf filled with books from Adarna!

As we settled down on the floor, we were introduced to Ms. Jeli, a storyteller for Adarna. She told us about this turtle plushy she had and showed it to the kids. She said that when she held out the turtle, we would have to laugh out loud!

The stories we read were “Noel! Noel! Leon! Leon!” by Kristine Canon. The story is about a boy named Leon being partnered up with his classmate Noel, who has autism, on a field trip. 

The other story was “Tara, Itok!” written by Kora Dandan-Albano. It is a heartwarming tale about two differently abled friends helping each other. All the kids, including us, were very happy and excited listening to the read-aloud! Ms. Jeli always kept us tuned in.

After the very fun read, Ms. Jeli gave out gift bags, containing books, one was titled The Idea Jungle from Adarna, the other was an activity book from Somerset Hotel, and a teddy bear! After that, the read-aloud had ended, and we were encouraged to go to the other room and eat food!

BAV is very happy to have participated in such an enjoyable read-aloud, and we hope to experience more in the future!