This Christmas, it’s cool to be kind at Ayala Malls

MANILA, Philippines - Christmas, the season of love, kindness and generosity, is also the busiest time of the year. With a lot of Christmas parties to attend, and work to wrap up before the holiday break, maintaining good cheer can be a challenge.

Ayala Malls officially welcomes the Christmas season with a campaign called “Wrapped in Love.” Figuring that it’s easier to stay in touch with our own kind, loving and generous nature when we are surrounded by expressions of such virtues, Ayala Malls has declared their space “kindness zones,” where otherwise exhausted shoppers and visitors are shown the love — and lots of it, in numerous ways.

Popcorn for all moviegoers. Candy bags for the kids on the playground. Concerts featuring artists such as The Blake, Piolo Pascual, Zia Quizon, Nikki Gil and Lea Salonga. An original Christmas ballet with Steps Dance Project. Goodies from a vendo machine that promotes good cheer. A designer charm bracelet that spreads the warmth of the season. All for free. From the surprising to the inspiring, expressions of giving abound at Ayala Malls.

So, too, do opportunities to give back. What better way to show some love than to include support for any or all of Ayala Malls’ partner foundations and their causes in your Christmas checklist?

Children’s Hour is an organization that invites individuals, employees, organizations and corporations to donate at least one hour’s worth of salaries or earnings once a year. Its mission is to promote education, health and nutrition and protection for disadvantaged Filipino children.

Hero Foundation, Inc. (Help Educated and Rear Orphans Foundation) provides educational assistance in the form of stipends to children of Filipino soldiers killed in action (KIA) or totally incapacitated while in the line of duty. HERO aims to help these children obtain a college or university degree, or a certificate in a vocational course, in order to give them a competitive chance in finding good and decent jobs or profession.

Ayala Foundation aims to improve the quality of life of the Filipino through social development. Since 1989, the foundation has been helping the Iraya-Mangyan, an indigenous ethnic group in Puerto Galera, become sustainably self-sufficient especially in the areas of education, livelihood, housing and health.

WWF-Philippines (World Wildlife Fund) is an organization whose mission is to stop and eventually reverse the accelerating degradation of the Philippine environment and to build a future in which Filipinos live in harmony with nature.

Concerts, fundraisers, weekly surprises, simple gifts — these are some of the big and small gestures of kindness visitors can expect this season at the Ayala Malls, a commitment that is perhaps best explained and underscored by the new Greenbelt Tunnel artwork by Jaime Zobel de Ayala. Various scenes capturing moments from the malls, the walkways and the gardens are shown in full-color, larger-than-life still photographs and, at the center, the words “relate, create, serve.”

Because at the heart of these efforts is the desire to create an atmosphere where visitors can leave their worries and stress behind. Unburdened, they are free to spread the love and the holiday cheer at Ayala Malls.